Killer Findings: Scientists Piece Together 1918-Flu Virus

Science News Online ^ | 10-10-2005 | Christen Brownlee

[in hoc signo vinces]

Heartwarming. Superflu, anyone?

[blam]

Virus Presents Doctors With Nightmare Scenario

[pepperdog]

Personal family story about the 1918 flu. My father was 8 years old, his mother and the town doctor went from house to house treating flu victims. Many people died. Why my grandmother never caught the flu, nor my father or his father, has always been a kind of family miracle. Very strange given her constant exposure.

[VadeRetro]

Working under biosafety level 3, the second-highest level of protection against biohazards, Tumpey's team found that the reconstructed virus killed otherwise-healthy mice in 3 to 5 days. It was also lethal to chicken embryos developing inside eggs, supporting its likely origin as an avian-flu virus. When the scientists infected samples of human-lung cells with the virus, it replicated readily.

Gee! What a fantastic advance! Can the Black Death be far behind?

[Westlander]

The Black Death Plague did not have any where near the death rate of the 1918 flu. More people died from the '1918 Flu' than all the wars in the 20th century combined.

[Spktyr]

You have to understand how something works before you can effectively fight it.

Even today, there is no known cure for the 1918 flu.

[blam]

Daily Bird Flu Updates

[Spktyr]

Agreed - and while the transmission method for the Black Death is thought to have been Yersinia pestis carried by fleas from rats to humans, we *still* do not know what the vector was for the 1918 'flu', whether it was a multitude of strains or just a few, and whether it was truly an airborne virus.

[blam]

"Personal family story about the 1918 flu. "

Good story.

My mother was born in 1917 and my dad in 1918 (bless their souls). I have always hoped that their possible exposure and survival indicates some type of immunity for me. Hope we don't have to find out.

[goodnesswins]

IMMUNE SYSTEM STRENGTH! That's probably why.

[Spktyr]

Possibly, but here's a very odd little fact about the 1918 flu; it was most fatal for those between 20 and 40 and seemed to generally ignore the children and elderly.

Way, way, way out of character for influenza.

[blam]

"...and while the transmission method for the Black Death is thought to have been Yersinia pestis carried by fleas from rats to humans."

I just saw an interesting one-hour documentary the other night that said more than the 'fleas' was going on. They proposed that two different things were infecting people. (don't remember any of the specifics though)

[Spktyr]

Possibly. Certainly humanity as a species is now more resistant to 1918 (by process of, ahem, elimination).

[Spktyr]

There were other insect vectors, as I recall - I think mosquitos were carrying the disease around, too. Yersinia pestis is thought to have been the cause - it's still around; occasionally someone will get it, not seek treatment, and die.

[blam]

Lots of info on prevention, treatment and medicines, click: Here

[Dog Gone]

Very good link! Thanks.

[blam]

"There were other insect vectors, as I recall - I think mosquitos were carrying the disease around, too. Yersinia pestis is thought to have been the cause - it's still around; occasionally someone will get it, not seek treatment, and die."

They were speaking of an entirely different disease than the one carried by fleas & mosquitos. They did point out that the spread in the northern climates was to fast (very cold regions) to have been transmitted by fleas or mosquitos in such sparcely populated regions.

There were also some contradictions in some of the symptoms reported from that period.

[Spktyr]

There were probably a number of nasty bugs running around in the Middle Ages at the time of the Black Plague that got lumped together. However, the actual Black Plague was the major killer and it only had a couple of vectors and one cause.

Modern sanitation and cleanliness is a huge benefit...

[VadeRetro]

The Black Death Plague did not have any where near the death rate of the 1918 flu.

Actually, I think it was about a third of Europe overall at the time, and there were many islands of non-exposure. The death rate among people who actually came down sick was something very high, estimated at seventy to over ninety percent. You have to allow that the population of Europe in 1347 was much lower than in 1918, with the insulating effects of lower population density and more difficult travel.