Deadly 1918 Epidemic Linked to Bird Flu, Scientists Say

NY Times ^ | October 5, 2005 | GINA KOLATA

[neverdem]

Two teams of federal and university scientists announced today that they had resurrected the 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history's most deadly epidemics, and had found that unlike the viruses that caused more recent flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, the 1918 virus was actually a bird flu that jumped directly to humans.

The work, being published in the journals Nature and Science, involved getting the complete genetic sequence of the 1918 virus, using techniques of molecular biology to synthesize it, and then using it to infect mice and human lung cells in a specially equipped, secure lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The findings, the scientists say, reveal a small number of genetic changes that may explain why the virus was so lethal. The work also confirms the legitimacy of worries about the bird flu viruses that are now emerging in Asia.

The new studies find that today's bird flu viruses share some of the crucial genetic changes that occurred in the 1918 flu. The scientists suspect that with the 1918 flu, changes in just 25 to 30 out of about 4,400 amino acids in the viral proteins turned the virus into a killer. The bird flus, known as H5N1 viruses, have a few, but not all of those changes.

In a joint statement, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The new studies could have an immediate impact by helping scientist focus on detecting changes in the evolving H5N1 virus that might make widespread transmission among humans more likely."

The work also reveals that the 1918 virus is very different from ordinary human flu viruses.

[steve86]

You should refer to the flu preps thread.

As bioprof suggested, keep clean.

Beyond that, assuming you do get infected, I have settled on NAC (N-acetyl cysteine), Resveratrol, and Elderberry Root. Most drinkers of Pinot Noir already know about the middle one. Each of these has double-blind evidence suggesting anti-viral action, particularly with respect to influenza. Google each plus influenza and you will find the studies.

Amantadine, a prescription anti-viral, is still effective against most present strains of H5N1. Tamiflu is becoming less so.

[steve86]

One other thing -- don't take anything that excessively stimulates the immune system (apparently Elderberry is not a problem). This could exacerbate a "cytokine storm", where the immune system begins destroying lung tissue itself. I understand that cytokine storms are implicated in the deaths of many influenza patients.

[bioprof]

I can only guess that the "gargle with salt water" helps to keep the tissues ( mucus membranes ) hydrated.....when they're hydrated, they're able to do their barrier work a lot more effectively. Things get nasty when they dry out - and - with a stuffy nose - people tend to "mouth-breathe" which tends to dries the membranes up. Always better to breathe through your nose, because the nose filters and moisturizes the air before it goes down your respiratory tract. With a lot of these things, I take the old grandmother maxim......couldn't hurt! ( and yes, chicken soup really DOES work! ).

[NewRomeTacitus]

The overuse of antibiotics for viral infections may literally be the death of us all. We get more than enough of those through ingesting processed meats. Then there's the increased lead levels, lowered atmospheric oxygen, the unknowable effects of man-made molecules, the erosion of our shielding ionosphere by accumulated chlorofluorocarbons, imbalances in the oceans' phytoplankton...

We can (and should) be as careful as possible but the problems and worries surrounding us can easily rob us of the joy of living if we let them. Yes, we're doomed - we're all going to die sooner or later. The latest research finds our existence here as beings able to ponder these things to be improbable to the extreme. Still, scientists over the last generation have been shocked to find living organisms thriving at astonishing scales of temperature, vast depths and in rocks hundreds of millions of years old.

I look at our existence as the wonder that it is and thank whatever made that possible (after the aspirin, vitamins, soak and coffee, of course).

Time is our most precious commodity. I'm not going to spend too much of it worrying.

[sinanju]

"Then Dr. Taubenberger got a third sample, from a woman who had died in Alaska when the flu swept through her village, killing 72 adults, leaving just 5. The dead were buried in a mass grave in the permafrost, and a retired pathologist, Johann Hultin, hearing of Dr. Taubenberger's quest, traveled from his home in San Francisco to the gravesite in Alaska at his own expense, dug up the grave with the villager's permission, extracted the woman's still frozen lung tissue, and sent it to Dr. Taubenberger."
____________________________________________________________________

Natives of the americas, Australia, South Pacific, etc. were the hardest hit. The "Spanish Flu" inflicted an especially searing legacy on Alaska. Inuit and Indian culture never recovered, so many of their elders were wiped out, leaving a generation of orphans.

As an aside, the Discovery channel did an interesting special on this quest to find the virus in permafrosted remains. Dr. Hultin's story was almost heartwarming in a way and a hilarious contrast to a massively funded and ballyhooed expedition to Spitzbergen to dig up the frozen corpses of miners who also died in the pandemic. One little old man working on his own accomplished what this other pompous three-ring circus (with it's own PR flack and matching outerwear, no less) could not.

Dr. Hultin politely addressed the village council and explained what he was trying to do and why. They simply couldn't refuse him. Several locals even volunteered their assistance. Proper courtesy was observed and the remains were carefully reinterred. Very diplomatic.

[NewRomeTacitus]

The history of science is rife with unrecognized people who found their accomplishments attributed to others. While many are now aware of how Edison took credit for much of Tesla's hard work, few know that Clyde Tombaugh actually found Pluto (widely attributed to Percival Lowell), nor that Robert Oppenheimer was hailed as for envisioning neutron stars when an unpleasant colleague named Fritz Zwicky, who worked just down the hall from him, beat him to it by five years.

Had Zwickey been less obnoxious he would also have been rightfully recognized for being the first to postulate supernovae and black holes.

[JustDoItAlways]

The scientists working on the virus have noted that various anti-viral drugs we have now, have worked fairly well for mice infected with the virus.

TamiFlu, for instance, was very effective. TamiFlu is an anti-flu drug that normally cuts the symptoms of the flu by about a third. But for some flus it works really well and for others it doesn't work at all.

In the current bird flu outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu, TamiFlu hasn't worked at all.

[jb6]

Al Quida lacks the knowledge/equipment for genetic engineering and the majority of those who survive (which will still be the majority of people) will be immune to the same virus (why the Spanish flu hasn't come back). Sure they could wait a few generations and unleash it again, but the majority of the deaths from this virus will be in China, SE Asia, India, Middle East, and Africa....all the poor, garbage ridden places.

[GOPJ]

A "How to Protect Yourself from Bird Flu" thread might be needed in the future. Seems you're up to writing it -- thanks in advance...

[jb6]

Anti-biotics do absolutely nothing against viruses, they're against bacteria.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Anti-biotics do absolutely nothing against viruses, they're against bacteria.

Totally aware of that - yet they're still overprescribed by physicians at a loss as to what else to do. At least the medical community has been trying to limit this in recent years.

[Smokin' Joe]

In the letter posted above from the army doc, it sure sounds like cytokine storms being described in the patients who changed color.

[Smokin' Joe]

In the letter posted above from the army doc, it sure sounds like cytokine storms being described in the patients who changed color.

[steve86]

First time I've heard that -- You may be right.

[SunkenCiv]

alas...

Scientists: 1918 Killer Spanish Flu Was a Bird Flu
Fox News | October 05, 2005 | Daniel J. DeNoon
Posted on 10/05/2005 11:20:11 AM PDT by stm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497138/posts

[Judith Anne]

If anyone wants to look up the information, I recall reading that potentially turmeric, the spice, may be helpful against cytokine storms.

[steve86]

In the current bird flu outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu, TamiFlu hasn't worked at all.

I think you're somewhat overstating that but it certainly isn't the wonder drug it once might have been. I've chosen not to purchase it myself.

[JustDoItAlways]

I can't remember where I read that (TamiFlu doesn't work against the current bird flu strain) but that is what the doctors reported.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks neverdem. Note: this topic is from 10/05/2005. Blast from the Past. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[mewzilla]

IIRC, this isn't new news. So why's it in the papers again?

If anyone wants to read up on the subject of the 1918 influenza, an excellent book on the subject.....

The Great Influenza, by John M Barry

Interesting info also in the book relatng to the politics of the time.