We're doomed. Yawn.
The Byrd Flu?.........
Considering both my parents survived the 1918 Pandemic, I wonder if the immunity is passed on.
But, 30 years ago it was the Swine Flu that had the world in a tizzy. Shots for old people. mass media warnings to get shots, media mobbing one pig farmer who did get the flu.
It turned out to be a bust. No plague of flu. no masive deaths, except some older people who died in line waiting for the shots.
I swear on the Fox crawl last night, it said Spanish FLY not Spanish FLU.....
susie
Two kids were walking along during an epidemic. The first one says, "look, a dead bird." The other kid looks up in the sky and says, "where?"
This is the earliest FR topic about this that turned up in a search for "flu". Beat the next one by just one number. :')
In Gina Kolata's book "Flu", there's a tidbit about one of the earlier, serious flu epidemics (my dad's uncle died in the flu epidemic in 1873, as did dad's great-grandparents, and a number of others), I think in the 1890s -- that those who contracted that version of influenza were completely immune to the Spanish Lady.
Spanish Flu"The first well-described pandemic of influenza-like disease occurred in 1580. In 1997, Johan Hultin, a retired pathologist, visited Brevig, Alaska, where 72 of 80 residents had died of the flu and been buried in a mass grave in the permafrost. One of the women had been fat, which helped preserve her organs. Hultin sent tissue samples to Taubenberger, who came up with the same results as he had earlier. A report in the October 14 issue of the journal New Scientist discusses some of the significant advances made in the last year in tracking down the origins of the Spanish flu virus."
by Canadian Press
Study: Pig, Human Viruses Triggered 1918 Flu PandemicIn a study appearing in the journal Science on Thursday, scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra said a key gene in the virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic was a hybrid created by the joining together of genetic sequences of pig and human influenza viruses.
by Will Dunham
Encephalitis Lethargica Information PageEncephalitis lethargica is a disease characterized by high fever, headache, double vision, delayed physical and mental response, and lethargy. In acute cases, patients may enter coma. Patients may also experience abnormal eye movements, upper body weakness, muscular pains, tremors, neck rigidity, and behavioral changes including psychosis. The cause of encephalitis lethargica is unknown. Between 1917 to 1928, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread throughout the world, but no recurrence of the epidemic has since been reported. Postencephalitic Parkinson’s disease may develop after a bout of encephalitis-sometimes as long as a year after the illness.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Search for Secrets Of Killer FluThe 1918 Spanish flu was one of the most contagious viruses ever known. It killed as many as 40 million people in the winter of 1918 and 1919, more than died in the First World War. A team led by John Oxford, the UK Government's flu adviser, has identified 10 victims of the virus that were buried in lead coffins across London. They do not expect to find the virus intact, he said, but it should have left its "footprint" in the patients' lungs.
by Michele Kambas
8 October, 2001
Swine Flu will wipe us out!
Comet Kehoutek will wipe us out!
Y2K will wipe us out!
oh wait...