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The 1918 flu pandemic , commonly known as the Spanish flu, was and still is the worst natural calamity the world has ever seen. It killed about 40 to 50 million worldwide in just a span of three years. Written anecdotes tell of how people would be disease-free in the morning and come home stricken and dying at the end of the day.
So it comes as no surprise that scientists would want to study the virus itself to find out why it was so fatal, so quickly. In 2005, the H1N1 virus that caused that flu was recreated from a corpse, and later sequenced. That caused uproar and fear about the consequences of having the sequence available.
This year, there is even greater concern and controversy with the first experiment of injecting the virus into primates (macaque monkeys), as published in the January issue of Nature.
Some scientists believe that the virus shouldn’t have been revived in the first place. “The key implication is that the virus is now located in two places, ” said Richard Ebright, a bacteriologist at Rutgers University, to Nature. The new study increases the risk that the virus may fall into the wrong hands, or escape and set “a dangerous precedent” for other labs to follow. Unless there is higher and stricter regulation concerning the use of H1N1, this possibility is always looming in the background.
Another concern that Ebright raised was the publication of the study in a prestigious paper such as Nature. It could tempt other research groups to work on high-rish pathogens simply for the recognition and publication.
Those who favor studying the virus remind us that a better understanding of how H1N1 acts in primates may help scientiest and deal with future pandemics, especially in light of the unseen threat of an H5N1 epidemic in humans. Results of the current study do give us invaluable insights into how a pre-pandemic virus might become lethal with just a single amino acid change. Understanding how the primate immune system fought off, or in this case, over-reacted toward the invading virus may also provide a promise for treatments of similar viruses.
The big question in the scientific world right now – will the benefits outweight the risk?
1918 pandemic flu virus ravaged the immune system, study reveals Concern as revived 1918 flu virus kills monkeys – Nature. 2007.445:p237. Q&A: The flu pandemic of 1918 A vaccine against the Spanish flu
Tags: H1N1, Spanish flu, flu pandemic, 1918, reconstruction, sequence, macaque, monkeys, primates, immune response
From a scientist’s mind, this is a goldmine and definitely many others will join the bandwagon. There is so many questions to be answered and with each is the potential to defeat the H5N1 threat. But from a homeland security view, that scenario is probably bordering on nightmare. With the fluidity of human movement these days, it (or any flu pandemic for that matter) can wipe out unheard of numbers of people.
Hi, Dr Christopher Gussa here
Thank you for your info on this!
You may not be interested in this and then again you just might!
As a TCM Clinical Herbalist for over 25 years I dug up some interesting information on the successful natural cures associated with this flu.
What got me into being a Clinical Herbalist was being cured of an almost fatal viral pneumonia due to a single plant we call Osha. I read that many of the Arapahoe Indians of Colorado had kept themselves alive and cured a few white people of this flu with this same plant. “Osha” (Ligusticum Porteri)
If you will click on the link I left as my website (It is a page on my site) You can see a lot of info on a combination of herbs that will destroy almost any flu or most any viral disease for that mater.
Thanks for all your great info on this.
Dr. Christopher Gussa http://www.plantcures.com
While it is extremely dangerous, for sure, I think it is extremely important to understand H1N1. We are so overdue for another pandemic it isn’t funny. The more we understand the past, the better we’ll be able to deal with the future. That said, the lab that has H1N1 had better have security that just goes to the extreme. Personally, as harsh as it sounds, shoot to kill if there is suspicious activity is the level I’m thinking. H1N1 CANNOT make it out into the wild, under any circumstances. We’re far to vulnerable. I don’t think we’d be able to deal with it (as far as our immune response goes).