Lessons Learned from Reconstructing the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Mingus · Dec 14, 2006

[FONT=helvetica, arial]SUPPLEMENT ARTICLE[/FONT]

[SIZE=+2]Lessons Learned from Reconstructing the 1918 Influenza Pandemichttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JID/journal/issues/v194nS2/36710/brief/36710.abstract.html#fn1 [/SIZE]

[FONT=helvetica, arial][SIZE=-1]Adolfo Garc?a-Sastre1 and Richard J. Whitley2 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=helvetica, arial][SIZE=-1]1Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York; 2Departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology, Medicine, and Neurosurgery and Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infections, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham [/SIZE][/FONT]

 
<center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%"> <tbody><tr><td>The "Spanish influenza" pandemic of 1918 was the most devastating influenza epidemic reported in history and killed >30 million people worldwide. The factors contributing to the severe pathogenicity of this influenza virus are of great interest, because avian influenza viruses circulating today pose the threat of a new pandemic if they develop sustained human-to-human transmissibility. Recent characterization of the 1918 virus has illuminated which determinants may be the cause of virulence. Here, we wish to shed light on what has been learned to date about the 1918 virus with regard to pathogenicity and transmissibility, to supplement our understanding of the determinants of human virulence and transmission of pandemic influenza viruses. Monitoring the sequences of avian influenza viruses for genetic changes and diversity may help us to predict the risks that these viruses pose of causing a new pandemic. </td></tr></tbody></table> </center><hr>
[SIZE=-1] Presented in part: Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza 2006: At the Crossroads, a Global Opportunity, Washington, DC, 1?2 February 2006 (for a list of sponsors and funding, see the Acknowledgments). 
Potential conflicts of interest: R.J.W. is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Gilead Sciences and is a member of the GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis Speakers Bureaus. A.G-S. reports no conflicts of interest. 
Financial support: Funding for the research conducted in A.G.-S.'s lab was partially provided by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01-AI46954, P01-AI58113, U19-AI62623, and U54-AI57158). Supplement sponsorship is detailed in the Acknowledgments.[/SIZE]

Mingus · Dec 14, 2006

Re: Lessons Learned from Reconstructing the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Complete PDF text.

gsgs · Dec 15, 2006

Re: Lessons Learned from Reconstructing the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

thanks. I remember Garcia-Sastre as one of those who thought that a pandemic were unlikely. I couldn't see this in the article, though.

It had been announced elsewhere, that Taubenberger is actually
sequencing a virus from the 1918 first wave.
No mention of this in the article.

Lessons Learned from Reconstructing the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

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