Pandemic influenza week. Day 1: history of pandemic influenza

Posted 3 October 2005 by Tara Smith

It's hard to avoid hearing about influenza virus these days. In all the noise, it's tough to sort out the facts from the rumors and conspiracy theories. I've already discussed a bit about the basic biology in this post, so I'm not going to review that here (though a good overview can be found here for those of you who need to bone up on your influenza virus virology). So, this week, as a part of Pandemic influenza awareness week, I'll be writing a 5-part series about various issues regarding influenza. Today, I'll discuss the history of influenza, focusing on past pandemics. The rest of the week will address the following topics, with the goal of presenting a review of the facts without the scare-mongering:

"Avian flu" and H5N1, 1997-present

Where we are now---are we ready for a pandemic?

How do we prevent/control a pandemic? What models and surveillance can tell us

Other issues in influenza

So, without further ado, let's dive into today's topic: A quick trip through the history of pandemic influenza (on Aetiology)

4 Comments

Reed A. Cartwright · 3 October 2005

Interesting, thanks.

shenda · 3 October 2005

Thank you Tara. I am looking forward to the other parts.

Shenda

Dutch Lurker · 3 October 2005

PT has managed to do what my teachers could never do 20 years ago, getting me interested in biology on many levels, and this post is a perfect example of how PT does it... Thanks Tara (and all other contributors)!

GT(N)T · 4 October 2005

"Though these questions are still being investigated, the preliminary data suggests that the virus was a human-avian reassortant which had entered the human population a short time before the pandemic (likely 6-12 months)."

Scary.

I'm still not sure why an intelligent designer, if benign, would want to do things this way. I guess all those who died, and will die, were bad.