Taubenberger, who isolated the full 1918 pandemic virus in 1997, notes that even 20th-century seasonal strains such as the H2N2 virus that appeared in 1957 and the H3N2 pandemic strain that began circulating in 1968 are built on the chassis of the original H1N1, as is the 2009 H1N1 virus. In effect, every human flu strain in the past 90 years has been a member of a dynasty founded by the 1918 virus, he concludes.
Those family ties are likely contributing to the relative mildness of the current pandemic. Avian flu viruses bearing H5, H7 or H9 hemagglutinins, widespread in domesticated poultry, have not yet managed to gain traction in the human population. If they did, they might produce a flu as ferocious as the one induced by the H1N1 virus in 1918, when it was truly new to people and killed at least 40 million worldwide.
Long-standing fears of that worst-case scenario engendered pandemic-planning efforts that are paying off today. They also prompted the 1976 vaccination campaign, which has been called a fiasco for the adverse events that accompanied the mass inoculations against a pandemic that never materialized. But even that brush with a version of H1N1, it seems, is paying an unexpected dividend now.
This article was originally published with the title Pandemic Payoff.
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11 Comments
Add CommentBackpedal time. Millions aren't dying in the streets, so now we're going to see stories about how the flu really wasn't that bad, and we always knew that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRemember, we've always been at war with Eastasia.
Graphs showing the infection rate and mortality rate by age would be a very helpful addition to the text.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou requested graphs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe cdc has a few interesting graphs and data charts.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2008-2009/weekly38.htm
talk about scaring people off and at the same time making money out of it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's stupid remarks like yours that are causing parents of young children to not get the H1N1 flu shot. When it's those very children who are the most at risk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShame on you!
Should I take the red pill or the blue pill ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExcellent presentation that concisely answers many questions. Hopefully most will at least see how important it is for young adults and CHILDREN to get vaccinated against H1N1. Thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe current Swine flu vaccination campaign is based on absolutely unsubstantiated statements according to which most people have no immunity against H1N1. The Spanish influenza H1N1 pandemic (19181919) annihilated nearly 12% of the worldwide population at the time. The other 98% escaped death without vaccination or specific medication through their own hereditary mechanisms of self-defense created by foregoing natural selection. Thus 1918 H1N1 swine flu virus was not entirely new to humankind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe current Swine flu vaccination campaign is based on absolutely unsubstantiated statements according to which most people have no immunity against H1N1. The Spanish influenza H1N1 pandemic (1918–1919) annihilated nearly 1–2% of the worldwide population at the time. The other 98% escaped death without vaccination or specific medication through their own hereditary mechanisms of self-defense created by foregoing natural selection. Thus 1918 H1N1 swine flu virus was not entirely new to humankind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe current Swine flu vaccination campaign is based on absolutely unsubstantiated statements according to which most people have no immunity against H1N1. The Spanish influenza H1N1 pandemic (1918–1919) annihilated nearly 1–2% of the worldwide population at the time. The other 98% escaped death without vaccination or specific medication through their own hereditary mechanisms of self-defense created by foregoing natural selection. Thus 1918 H1N1 swine flu virus was not entirely new to humankind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe current Swine flu vaccination campaign is based on absolutely unsubstantiated statements according to which most people have no immunity against H1N1. The Spanish influenza H1N1 pandemic (1918–1919) annihilated nearly 1–2% of the worldwide population at the time. The other 98% escaped death without vaccination or specific medication through their own hereditary mechanisms of self-defense created by foregoing natural selection. Thus 1918 H1N1 swine flu virus was not entirely new to humankind.
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