HELSINKI, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- A/H1N1 flu has caused permanent pulmonary damage to some patients in Finland, according to Finnish media report Thursday.

    In Kuopio, the city situated in the middle part of Finland, five people who were in intensive care with the A/H1N1 virus developed serious lung problems. For example, one healthy 40-year-old woman's lungs have been incurably damaged.

    In these patients, the A/H1N1 virus caused viral pneumonia, which caused their lungs to fill up with liquid. When the infection recedes, the lungs can have fibrosis, or basically damaged and hardened tissue.

    Kuopio's University Hospital plans to bring every A/H1N1 flu patient who was treated in their pulmonary ward back for further testing.

    Irma Koivula, an infectious diseases specialist at the Kuopio University Hospital, said that anyone who contracts A/H1N1 virus is at risk for the same kind of lung damage. She stressed that it is important to get the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, which is being offered to everyone at public health care centers in Finland.