Searching for Lethal Influenza Strains

1gor writes "Scientists want to exhume the body of the victim of the world's most lethal influenza pandemic between 1918 and 1919 to examine the structure of the virus, reports Bloomberg.com. In an airtight coffin they expect to find well-preserved virus known for its unique ability to kill healthy young people. The strain's attack and mortality rates were highest among people aged between 20 years and 50 years. Are you scared already?"

Comments

Re:Why would I be scared?

[crow]

Influenza is a virus. Antibiotics only work against bacteria. Of course, many people with viral infections go to their doctors, and the doctors want to make the patients happy, so the perscribe antibiotics. Sometimes this makes sense, as a viral infection may weaken the immune system to allow a secondary bacterial infection. (I got pneumonia after a nasty flu.)

Re:why?

[ceejayoz]

are they trying to figure out how to kill healthy young people? can someone explain how this will help our understanding of medicine?

Perhaps they're trying to figure out how it killed 20 million healthy young people, so they can prevent it from ever happening again?

Be afraid...

[Simon Field]

Clearly the reason we study things like this is because we fear them.

We want to prevent another outbreak. We want to study why it was so lethal, so we can cure it and similar epidemics.

We also fear that someone else will resurrect this bug and spread it around.

But those who fear that the U.S. is studying it in order to make biological weapons will also figure out that a biological weapon like this will not be useful without the ability to innocculate your own population against it.

When large democracies study diseases, even with the worst motives, it scares me less than if we found that suicidal cults or fanatics were studying them. Even if the government is studying it for all the wrong reasons, we end up better able to defend against it.

There will be more pandemics. They may be man-made, but more likely they will be natural.
And the only way we will be prepared for them is to study them.