AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/15642106.htm
Posted on Sun, Oct. 01, 2006
Researcher looking for 1918 flu survivors
Those who lived during epidemic may have antibodies to the virus
BY CAROL ANN CAMPBELL
Newhouse News Service
<!-- begin body-content -->People who lived during the 1918 influenza epidemic may hold secrets in their blood that could help fight a future outbreak, but finding them now is a race against time.
Those who were toddlers at the end of World War I ? when the epidemic swept the globe and killed 50 million ? are in their 90s now. Nearly a lifetime after the notorious outbreak, researchers are hoping survivors will come forward and donate a vial of blood, which then will be analyzed for antibodies to the virus.
One researcher is particularly interested in people with siblings or other close relatives who were infected in 1918.
"If we can examine their blood and antibodies, maybe we can solve the great mystery of this virus," said Eric Altschuler, a researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "Why was it so much more lethal than all other flu?"
Altschuler said antibodies and other cells created by the immune systems of people who survived the 1918 virus could, possibly, be used to create treatments if a similar virus again circles the globe, especially a bird flu.
Altschuler will work with immunologists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Other researchers say scientists must collect the blood of influenza survivors before they are all gone.
"We can see how these antibodies responded to the virus and why these people survived," said Thomas Rowe, who studies emerging pathogens at Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Ala.
"This virus killed so many people and spread so rapidly that maybe we will be able to uncover something about the virus that we didn't know," Rowe said.
It was just last year that researchers were able to reconstruct the DNA of the 1918 virus from the lung tissue of two soldiers who died in the epidemic. The U.S. Army had saved the specimens. Tissue also came from an Alaska woman buried in frozen ground. Researchers concluded the 1918 virus was a bird flu that jumped to humans.
Now that scientists have reconstructed the strain, they can search for the antibodies. Altschuler said most researchers believe that just about everyone alive at the time, except for the most isolated, probably came in contact with the influenza virus. Researchers want to find people who recall the illness or who heard family stories about the horrific virus affecting people close to them.
Unlike most influenza, the 1918 strain was most virulent for the young and healthy. People hemorrhaged from their noses and mouths ? even from their eyes and ears. Makeshift tents in public parks became hospitals for the dying.
"The healthiest young adults had the highest death rate ? as high as 7 percent or 8 percent in some places," said John M. Barry, author of "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History."
Barry said young people today know little about the epidemic.
"But whenever I mentioned my book to older people, it registered. They would say, 'My mother died. My grandfather died,' " he said.
Interest in the 1918 epidemic has grown in recent years as public health experts and politicians express concern about a possible bird flu pandemic.
Several scientists said they are intrigued by Altschuler's study, even those who are not sure the antibodies can be isolated.
"I don't know how scientifically feasible this is, but if this is indeed feasible it would be a very interesting discovery," said Yanzhong Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University. "It is worthwhile to try."
Altschuler is a physician and medical historian who said he got the idea for his study from television when the NBC show "Medical Investigations" aired an episode about an epidemic.
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Posted on Sun, Oct. 01, 2006
Researcher looking for 1918 flu survivors
Those who lived during epidemic may have antibodies to the virus
BY CAROL ANN CAMPBELL
Newhouse News Service
<!-- begin body-content -->People who lived during the 1918 influenza epidemic may hold secrets in their blood that could help fight a future outbreak, but finding them now is a race against time.
Those who were toddlers at the end of World War I ? when the epidemic swept the globe and killed 50 million ? are in their 90s now. Nearly a lifetime after the notorious outbreak, researchers are hoping survivors will come forward and donate a vial of blood, which then will be analyzed for antibodies to the virus.
One researcher is particularly interested in people with siblings or other close relatives who were infected in 1918.
"If we can examine their blood and antibodies, maybe we can solve the great mystery of this virus," said Eric Altschuler, a researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "Why was it so much more lethal than all other flu?"
Altschuler said antibodies and other cells created by the immune systems of people who survived the 1918 virus could, possibly, be used to create treatments if a similar virus again circles the globe, especially a bird flu.
Altschuler will work with immunologists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Other researchers say scientists must collect the blood of influenza survivors before they are all gone.
"We can see how these antibodies responded to the virus and why these people survived," said Thomas Rowe, who studies emerging pathogens at Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Ala.
"This virus killed so many people and spread so rapidly that maybe we will be able to uncover something about the virus that we didn't know," Rowe said.
It was just last year that researchers were able to reconstruct the DNA of the 1918 virus from the lung tissue of two soldiers who died in the epidemic. The U.S. Army had saved the specimens. Tissue also came from an Alaska woman buried in frozen ground. Researchers concluded the 1918 virus was a bird flu that jumped to humans.
Now that scientists have reconstructed the strain, they can search for the antibodies. Altschuler said most researchers believe that just about everyone alive at the time, except for the most isolated, probably came in contact with the influenza virus. Researchers want to find people who recall the illness or who heard family stories about the horrific virus affecting people close to them.
Unlike most influenza, the 1918 strain was most virulent for the young and healthy. People hemorrhaged from their noses and mouths ? even from their eyes and ears. Makeshift tents in public parks became hospitals for the dying.
"The healthiest young adults had the highest death rate ? as high as 7 percent or 8 percent in some places," said John M. Barry, author of "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History."
Barry said young people today know little about the epidemic.
"But whenever I mentioned my book to older people, it registered. They would say, 'My mother died. My grandfather died,' " he said.
Interest in the 1918 epidemic has grown in recent years as public health experts and politicians express concern about a possible bird flu pandemic.
Several scientists said they are intrigued by Altschuler's study, even those who are not sure the antibodies can be isolated.
"I don't know how scientifically feasible this is, but if this is indeed feasible it would be a very interesting discovery," said Yanzhong Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University. "It is worthwhile to try."
Altschuler is a physician and medical historian who said he got the idea for his study from television when the NBC show "Medical Investigations" aired an episode about an epidemic.
.
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