Posted on 12/29/2008 4:37:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Researchers have found out what made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly -- a group of three genes that lets the virus invade the lungs and cause pneumonia.
They mixed samples of the 1918 influenza strain with modern seasonal flu viruses to find the three genes and said their study might help in the development of new flu drugs.
The discovery, published in Tuesday's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also point to mutations that might turn ordinary flu into a dangerous pandemic strain.
Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues at the Universities of Kobe and Tokyo in Japan used ferrets, which develop flu in ways very similar to humans.
Usually flu causes an upper respiratory infection affecting the nose and throat, as well as so-called systemic illness causing fever, muscle aches and weakness.
But some people become seriously ill and develop pneumonia. Sometimes bacteria cause the pneumonia and sometimes flu does it directly.
During pandemics, such as in 1918, a new and more dangerous flu strain emerges.
"The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in human history, accounting for about 50 million deaths worldwide," Kawaoka's team wrote.
It killed 2.5 percent of victims, compared to fewer than 1 percent during most annual flu epidemics. Autopsies showed many of the victims, often otherwise healthy young adults, died of severe pneumonia.
"We wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia," Kawaoka said in a statement.
They painstakingly substituted single genes from the 1918 virus into modern flu viruses and, one after another, they acted like garden-variety flu, infecting only the upper respiratory tract.
But a complex of three genes helped to make the virus live and reproduce deep in the lungs.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Even the Black Death probably doesn't qualify. Various virgin-field epidemics hit the no-immunity populations of the western hemisphere after the two disease ecosystems merged around 1500. It appears some of these had well over 50% mortality rates. In any case, the native population of the Americas had been reduced by 90 to 95% by 1600. Very few of those who died of these diseases ever saw a white man.
BTW, these are usually called European diseases. Almost all orignated in Asia, with a few coming from Africa. I don't know of any that actually originated in Europe.
I don’t remember the exact year- but I remember my whole family had it and we were so sick we skipped Christmas, none of us even cared about our presents under the tree until about New Years. The sickest I have ever been, I thought we were all going to die from that stuff.
AN INDIAN REMEDY FOR INFLUENZA
In publishing this paper the State Board of Health does not give its endorsement to the remedy until it has had further trial. We merely present the facts as stated by Dr. Krebs, with the idea of giving the matter publicity and encouraging others to give it a trial.
During the fall of 1918 when the influenza epidemic visited this section of Nevada, the Washoe Indian used a root in the treatment of their sick which was gathered along the foot-hills of this slope of the Sierra. The plant proved to be a rare species of the parsley family (Leptotaemia dissecta*), according to a report from the University of California.
The Indians gather this root in the late fall, November being considered the proper month for gathering. The root is used in the fresh or dry state. It is cut up and a decoction is made by boiling the root in water, skimming off the top and giving large doses of the broth. A pound of root is considered about the proper dose to treat a case of fever for three days, which is the longest time needed to break up a fever due to influenza or a pulmonary disease, although the Washoes used it as a panacea.
Whether a coincidence or not, there was not a single death in the Washoe tribe from influenza or its complications, although Indians living in other parts of the State where the root did not grow died in numbers. It was such a remarkable coincidence that the root was investigated by a practicing physician who saw apparently hopeless cases recover without any other medication or care of any kind. A preparation was prepared and employed in a great many cases among the whites, from the mildest to the most virulent types of influenza, and it proved, among other things, that it is the nearest approach we have today to a specific in epidemic influenza and the accompanying pneumonia. Where used early it proved itself to be a reliable agent in preventing pulmonary complications. Other physicians were induced to give it a trial, with the same results. It is beyond the experimental stage, as its therapeutic action in this direction is established and beyond any doubt. The cases in which it has been used run into the hundreds. There is probably no therapeutic agent so valuable in the treatment of influenzal pneumonia and, as far as being tried, in ordinary lobar pneumonia if started early. Its action on coughs is more certain than the opiate expectorants and its benefit is lasting. It acts as a powerful tonic to the respiratory mucous membranes. It is a bronchial, intestinal and urinary antiseptic and is excreted by these organs. It seems to stimulate the pneogastries (sic) and causes a slow pulse with increased volume and reduced tension. It is a pronounced diaphoretic and somewhat diuretic, and it is a stimulating and sedative expectorant. In large doses it is a laxative, and in extreme doses emetic.
To make a therapeutically active preparation, the proper variety of the root must be selected in the late fall and properly cured out of the sun. Its active principles must be extracted with as little as possible of the objectionable constituents. The active principles of the root are decidedly complex. It contains a glucoside (as its solutions precipitate copper from Fehling's solution). It contains one or more alkaloids and an acid analogous to benzoic acid, one or more volatile and fixed oils, a resin and a gum. It can be seen from this that it resembles a balsam from the fact that it contains an oleogumresin and an acid besides alkaloids and glucosides. One can at once appreciate the fact that a reliable pharmaceutical preparation representing the action of the root is not readily made. The volatile oil, which is one of the principal therapeutic agents, is lost in making a decoction.
This particular variety of Leptotaemia* is not as common as believed as some, and it is this particular variety that has medicinal or therapeutic virtues. It grows in dry sandy soil, as a rule, under or between tall sagebrush or greasewood. The plant grows from two to four feet high and has a blossom similar to wild parsnip and leaves like a carrot. It is a perennial, and the older roots frequently weigh from two to six pounds. It sprouts early in April, blooms in May, seeds in June, and withers in July. A number of trials in transplanting the root have been made, but none were successful.
Leptotaemia dissecta * is destined to become one of the most useful if not the most important addition to our vegetable materia medica.
ERNST T. KREBS, M.D. Carson City, Nevada.
* The botanical name was changed in 1942 by Matthias and Constance, from Leptotaenia dissecta to Lomatium dissectum.
((I use this myself with any possible viral or bacterial infection and it works like a charm especially on upper respiratory infections resistant to antibiotics. Our clinic orders it from an organic farm in NorCal.))
This is deeply stupid stuff, folks. Deeply, deeply stupid.
My grandfather had it—lived but was later killed in a mining accident. My grandmother said you would wrap your dead in a sheet with their name attached, put the body out at the garden gate and the undertakers made the rounds a couple of times a day to pick up the deceased.
My grandmother lost one toddler to the flu—but her husband survived the flu.
Asian influenza pandemic of 1957-1958 ... I was there and suffered thru an attack in March 1958. This evidently helped immunize me against the Hong Kong flu a decade later because the Hong Kong flu wasn't an issue for me ... entirely clear of any symptoms.
“And then, for the Bubonic Plague, there was “Ring around the Rosie...””
Didn’t know that.
1968 or 69?
The Hong Kong flu?
I remember everyone in the family being sick, some more so than others.
Vitamin A at those levels are toxic.
Might have been that same year for me as well...
I stopped over to my folks house for dinner and left ten days later - I was that sick.
I had the shakes/shivers so bad I laid in the bathtub for a night and a day with all the hot water added from the stove my parents could heat just to keep warm and stop shaking. The hot water heater could not keep up.
The local hospital was only admitting the elderly.
I hope I’m never that sick again.
You should only do this if your liver is functioning properly because vitamin A, D, E, and K are fat soluble and are stored in the liver. There is a possibility of toxicity w/out proper metabolization and excretion otherwise.
True, some people think vitamins at any level are good for you, but it is possible to poison yourself with too many vitamins, especially fat soluble vitamins.
The contemporary reports are stunning, especially those by military doctors on military bases, which were the worst hit targets in the USA.
bttt - vitamin D bump
People who caught the less dangerous flu in the spring of 1918 did not catch the deadly flu in the fall of 1918
Vitamin D
Vitamin D
Vitamin D
I realize.
Mom was born in early 1919 and Dad in late 1918. Their immediate families survived, but lots of the more distant relatives perished. They were very “funny” when it came to talking about that flu. I think they were eternally grateful that they and their families survived, and just didn’t want to talk about it.
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