ABSTRACT
The influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 killed approximately 50 million people. The unusually severe morbidity and mortality associated with the pandemic spurred physicians and scientists to isolate the etiologic agent, but the virus was not isolated in 1918. In 1996, it became possible to recover and sequence highly degraded fragments of influenza viral RNA retained in preserved tissues from several 1918 victims. These viral RNA sequences eventually permitted reconstruction of the complete 1918 virus, which has yielded, almost a century after the deaths of its victims, novel insights into influenza virus biology and pathogenesis and has provided important information about how to prevent and control future pandemics.
- Copyright © 2012 Taubenberger et al.
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- Article
- ABSTRACT
- PUBLIC HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 1918 AND 2009 PANDEMIC VIRUSES
- INSIGHTS INTO NOVEL CROSS-REACTIVE INFLUENZA VACCINE APPROACHES USING THE 1918 VIRUS HEMAGGLUTININ STRUCTURE
- INSIGHTS INTO INFLUENZA VIRUS EVOLUTION
- VIRULENCE, HOST ADAPTATION, AND TRANSMISSION FACTORS OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA VIRUS
- UNDERSTANDING OF INFLUENZA VIRUS RECEPTOR BINDING
- PATHOLOGY OF INFLUENZA AND IMPORTANCE OF COINFECTIONS
- THE ROLE OF HOST INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES IN DISEASE PROGRESSION
- CONCLUSIONS
- ACKNOWLEDGMENT
- REFERENCES
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