The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

[pablomorgan]

ABSTRACT ? In 1918 an influenza pandemic killed 40 million people. It is now possible to study
the genetic features of the 1918 virus. Such analyses will try to answer questions about the origin
and the unusual virulence of this pandemic virus.
http://birdfluexposed.com/resources/reid81.pdf

 

[pablomorgan]

Re: The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

From reading this I got the impression the virus mutated in humans between the first and second wave. Did it?

 

[Dark Horse]

Re: The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

From reading this I got the impression the virus mutated in humans between the first and second wave. Did it?

Yep. It sure did.

 

[littlebird]

Re: The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

Evidence suggests that the 1918 flu was swapped back and forth between people and pigs prior to October of 1918, causing illness in both humans and swine.

A veterinarian from Iowa, in 1919, wrote about how if a herd of pigs caught it, the family who owned them would soon catch it, and vice-versa. It appears that the virus was unstable and changing. Not so different from the farmer in Canada who accidently infected his 200 pigs with 2009 H1N1.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1145139

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

Welcome Littlebird!

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: The 1918 Spanish influenza: integrating history and biology

Welcome to FluTrackers Littlebird!