The 1918 pandemic influenza virus

The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating pandemic in recent memory. The origin was an H1N1 virus with avian genes. The virus, whose origin is up for question, spread throughout the world between 1918 and 1919. It was originally discovered by military soldiers in the US in the spring of 1918. It is estimated that 500 million people, or around one third of the world's population, carry this virus. It was estimated that there had been at least 50 million deaths worldwide, with 675,000 of those deaths occurring in the United States.

Less than 5 year olds, those in their 20s to 40s, and those 65 and above had higher mortality rates. One distinctive aspect of this pandemic was the high mortality rate among healthy individuals, including those in the 20–40 year age range. Although the 1918 H1N1 virus has been analysed and synthesised, little is known about the characteristics that made it so deadly. Control efforts worldwide were restricted to non-pharmaceutical interventions like isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and restrictions on public gatherings, which were applied unevenly, due to the lack of an influenza vaccination and of medicines to treat subsequent bacterial infections that may be brought on by influenza infections.

 

An expert team of scientists and virus hunters set out to find the lost 1918 virus, sequence its genome, recreate the virus in a highly safe and regulated laboratory setting at CDC, and ultimately study its secrets to better prepare for future pandemics in order to better understand this deadly virus.

 

Read more in https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html