Spanish influenza

Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia chronology of the 1918 Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Georgia, 1999. Available at www.cviog.uga.edu... 

Influenza is the most widespread acute infectious disease of humans. Annually, influenza accounts for the increase in morbidity and mortality rate all over the world. For example, every winter about 300 000 patients in the US are hospitalized and 30000 0000 patients die as a result of influenza infection. The morbidity and mortality rates due to influenza infection are increased dramatically in cases of pandemic outbreaks. In the 20th century, there were three pandemics — the pandemic of Spanish influenza in 1918, caused by a virus of antigenic formula HlNl the pandemic of Asian influenza of 1957, caused by a virus of antigenic formula H2N2 the pandemic of 1968 caused by a virus with antigenic formula H3N2. These pandemics are characterized by a morbidity rate from 30% to 60% of the population and are accompanied by dramatic increases of pneumonia number and general mortality. The pandemic of Spanish influenza of 1918, which took the lives of 1-2% of the entire human population, was especially serious. Almost the entire world was stricken with the first influenza pandemic of the third millennium caused by strain A/California/04/2009 (HlNl). 

Influenza develops in approximately 20% of the global population each year. The 1918 influenza killed 50 million people worldwide, when an avian flu was passed on to humans. Chemistry genius Robert Burns Woodward lost his father to the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic when he was only two years old. The Asian influenza occurred in... 

Potentiation of the virulence of influenza A viruses with genes from the 1918 pandemic virus ( Spanish influenza)... 

A. H. Reid, et al., Characterization of the 1918 "Spanish" influenza vims neuraminidase gene, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 97, 2000, 6785-90. 

Webster RG. 1918 Spanish influenza the secret remains elusive. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1999 96 1164-1166. 

Influenza-type viruses, notably, have been found to have crossed the species barrier, for example, from ducks and swine to humans (recall the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 when 20 million lives were lost). There is, on the evidence, a genetic synthesis of an animal strain of virus with a human strain, producing deadly results sometimes. There are rumors that the rabies vaccine, derived from horses as... 

Johnson NP, Mueller J. Updating the accounts global mortality of the 1918-1920 Spanish influenza pandemic. Bull Hist Med 2002 76 105-115. WHO. Avian influenza ( bird flu )— Fact sheet 2006. 

The onset of the devastating Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 that caused thousands of casualties on both sides during World War I may have been partly responsible for Germany capitulating in July of that same year. (For a short period of time after the war, some even suspected Germany of deliberately unleashing the virus that killed some 20-50 million people worldwide.)... 

Tumpey TM et al (2005) Characterization of the reconstructed 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic virus. Science 310 77-80. 

Tucker EE. Spanish influenza —what and why J Am Osteopath Assoc 1919 18 270-273. 

The benefits of osteopathic manipulation in viral influenza was demonstrated In 1918 when, for the first time, statistical records were kept of patients who received osteopathic treatment as opposed to those who received standard medical care of the time. A severe outbreak of Spanish influenza occurred that year. Antibiotics were not available to treat the bacterial pneumonia that was a common complication of the viral condition. Kuchera and Kuchera note in Osteopathic Considerations in Systemic Dysfunctions that of the more than 100,000 persons who received osteopathic manipulation while being treated for the influenza, there was only a 0.25% mortality rate. This is quite significantly lower than the estimated 5% overall mortality rate for those re-... 

The European bubonic plague of 1347 killed one-third of the population of Europe. It is the largest single plague ever recorded. The disappearance of the Aztec civilization was spurred by smallpox and measles introduced by Hernando Cortes and his band of Spanish invaders. The same diseases also decimated Native Americans in what is now the United States. Much more recently, the influenza epidemic of 1918 killed an estimated 40 million people worldwide. Malaria continues to be a major problem for people and their countries today in areas in which it is endemic. AIDS, tuberculosis, influenza, hepatitis, pneumonia, and a lengthy list of parasitic infections continue as important constraints on the welfare of people throughout the world. 

Influenza has plagued humankind since the dawn of history and continues to affect a significant proportion of the population irrespective of age or previous infection history. These periodic epidemics that reinfect otherwise healthy people have devastated communities world wide. Some pandemics like the 1917-1919 Spanish flu were responsible for the death of tens of millions of people throughout the world. The origins, spread, and severity of influenza epidemics have been a puzzle that has only in the last two decades been adequately addressed. In early times it was thought that the disease was the evil influence (sic) of the stars, and other extraterrestial objects. At present it is generally accepted that the disease is of viral origin, spread by aerosols produced by infected animals, and the continual production of new strains of the virus results in reinfection of the disease (reviewed in Reference 1). 

Relatively safe. The toxic dose for adults is about 10-30 g, which is many times greater than the dosage in a standard tablet of 300 mg. Both salicylic acid and aspirin can breach the stomach s protective lining, causing bleeding, but aspirin causes much less stomach irritation. Back at the time of the 1918-1919 influenza ( Spanish flu ) pandemic, aspirin was widely used as a medication. 

Le, L., Lee, E., Schulten, K., 8c Truong, T. N. (2009). Molecular modeling of swine influenza A/HlNl, Spanish HlNl, and avian H5N1 flu Nl neuraminidases bound to Tamiflu and Relenza. PLoS Currents Influenza, 1, RRN1015. 

TUlandsia usenoides. An antibacterial substance (176) was extracted from the brown parts of Spanish moss with acetone or chloroform. It was active against S. aureus, Pneumococcus I, II, and III, S. hemolyticus C 203, Hemophilus influenzas type B, and Candida albicans. It was not active against E. coli. Pseudomonas pyocyaneus, and H. influenzae type A. 

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