Are you an MD?
One rumor spreading around says the Chicoms were digging up corpses of victims of the 1917 flu pandemic, which killed 20 million people. In order to obtain samples of the virus (for use as a bioweapon?). And maybe it got away from them.
Just a rumor.
--Boris
Just a rumor.
The U.S. CDC states they are 99% certain the culprit is a new variant of the coronavirus family. The WHO has formally agreed. This viral family is responsible for about 30% of all colds. It is NOT flu.
The Chinese have announced they are 80% sure it is a variant of chlamydia (not the STD version). Chlamydia is weird kind of bacteria, not a virus.
Because China disagrees with the rest of the world on what we are fighting, many reporters simply say the culprit has not been identified. It is even possible that China had an outbreak of the pneumonia version of chlamydia that masked the beginning of SARS. Since China has consistently lied about SARS, and is thought to be lying even now, we simply cannot say for sure.
Bottom line: Their is no evidence whatsoever that this is biologically related to flu, including the Spanish flu of 1918. As you mentioned above, that is just a rumor.
If you want to pursue this line reasoning, however, there is abundant evidence that this virus is very different than its nearest cousins. This has caused internet speculation that it was bioengineered. That can not be disproved, but it is possible for a new virus to be this different due to solely natural causes.
If you want to know something a little more technical about what we are fighting, go here: