• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

1918 flu pandemic had a trial run

Sally Furniss

Sally Furniss

Well-known member
1918 flu pandemic had a trial run
Theresa42 said:
Anybody have a subscription to New Scientist? Hat-tip, Kobie!

1918 flu pandemic had a trial run
26 January 2008
Magazine issue 2640

THE flu pandemic that struck in the autumn of 1918 killed tens of millions worldwide. But it now seems that it had a widespread, and much milder, trial run.

Scandinavian health statistics record an unseasonable outbreak of flu in the summer of 1918. People who caught it were only a tenth as likely to die as those stricken in the autumn, but those who did catch it were mainly young adults - a hallmark of the autumn outbreak and a strong indication that the summer virus was closely related to it (The Journal of Infectious Diseases, DOI: 10.1086/524065).

Previous studies have shown that the autumn virus spread relatively slowly. It had been hoped that this was a general feature of pandemics, because it would mean that "social distancing" measures such as closing schools could prevent deaths.

However, the Scandinavian figures suggest that the autumn virus spread ...

http://www.newscientist.com/channel...04.900-1918-flu-pandemic-had-a-trial-run.html
Click to expand...
 
Re: 1918 flu pandemic had a trial run

1918 flu pandemic had a trial run
gsgs said:
that was the first wave in summer, or not ?
This isn't new.

Also, the autumn wave did spread very fast, not slowly.
Click to expand...
 
Re: 1918 flu pandemic had a trial run

Originally Posted by gsgs
that was the first wave in summer, or not ?
This isn't new.

Also, the autumn wave did spread very fast, not slowly.
Click to expand...

It appears to be the first wave.

I don't recall any studies saying the Autumn wave spread slowly. Anecdotal stories say it was fast.
 
Re: 1918 flu pandemic had a trial run

From the article cited above:

(...) That summer wave accounted for 29%-34% of all excess ILIs and hospitalizations during 1918, whereas the case-fatality rate (0.3%) was many-fold lower than that of the fall wave (2.3%).

Similar patterns were observed in 3 other Scandinavian cities. R was substantially higher in summer (2.0-5.4) than in fall (1.2-1.6) in all cities.



Conclusions.

The Copenhagen summer wave may have been caused by a precursor A/H1N1 pandemic virus that transmitted efficiently but lacked extreme virulence.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom