Study links current seasonal flu with 1918 pandemic virus

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/05/11/seasonal-flu-1918-pandemic/7541652203272/

Today's H1N1 flu -- commonly known as the swine flu -- appears to be a direct descendent of the influenza virus that caused the catastrophic 1918 pandemic, a new analysis shows.

Genetic data drawn from 1918 flu samples recently discovered in Germany suggests that all genomic segments of the seasonal H1N1 flu could be directly descended from that terrible initial strain, the researchers said.

"The subsequent seasonal flu virus that went on circulating after the pandemic might well have directly evolved from the pandemic virus entirely," said senior researcher Sebastien Calvignac-Spencer, an evolutionary biologist with the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.

If correct, this new theory contradicts other hypotheses that have held that today's seasonal flu emerged through different viruses sharing their genetic code, the study authors noted.

*snip*

[elleng]

1. WOW!

It killed my Grandmother, Dad's mother.

[roamer65]

2. It became endemic.

Not surprising.

SARS-CoV-2 will as well.

[SoCalDavidS]

3. It's Gonna Be Awhile Before Covid Becomes Endemic In America

We're a completely dysfunctional country, and learned little from the lessons of 1918. We could be having surges for years and decades to come.

[roamer65]

4. I suspect you are right.

It’s gonna take time.

[SoCalDavidS]

5. I Remember When Dr. Fauci Said We Needed 85% Vaccinated To End The Pandemic

I KNEW that we would never get much above 70%, and not only did we not, but the % of people getting even 1 booster shot, is far below 50%.

I don't think I'll ever live a day the rest of my life, that I feel proud of this country. We're fucking pathetic.

[roamer65]

6. Let's go, Darwin!

[Cheezoholic]

8. We dont need a disease

to take us out. Social Darwinism is on full display lol

[anarch]

9. yes, and this one will almost certainly be far more devastating in the long run

due to higher-density populations, more people in general, and even more so due to our society's refusal to sort of "hit the pause button" for any effective length of time to halt the spread. Eventually it will be much like the seasonal flu (although weirder and maybe deadlier), but it will kill dramatic numbers of people in the meantime.

It could be prevented, but that would require global cooperation and coordination, along with a pause of all but truly essential activities and face-to-face socialization, for like a full year or two. Not going to happen.

I suspect between this, the looming climate crisis, economic collapse and war, the next couple hundred years are going to be really...uh..."interesting" on this planet.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Does this mean that the flu I've had is the same virus that my grandmother had in 1918?

She told me that her teacher came to her home and brought her exams - which she took sitting in front of the fireplace... I sure wish I could talk more about it with her now, this was just one of many stories she told me.