Flu may not have killed most in 1918 pandemic

[PoGo]

This article is a couple of months old, I found it to be interesting.

 

 

Flu may not have killed most in 1918 pandemic

Bacterial infection may have been responsible for most deaths, report says

Reuters

updated 8:43 a.m. MT, Fri., Feb. 6, 2009

 

WASHINGTON - Strep infections and not the flu virus itself may have killed most people during the 1918 influenza pandemic, which suggests some of the most dire predictions about a new pandemic may be exaggerated, U.S. researchers said.

 

The findings suggest that amassing antibiotics to fight bacterial infections may be at least as important as stockpiling antiviral drugs to battle flu, they said.

 

In the report released Thursday, Keith Klugman of Emory University in Atlanta and colleagues looked at what information is available about the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed anywhere between 50 million and 100 million people globally in the space of about 18 months.

 

Some research has shown that on average it took a week to 11 days for people to die — which fits in more with the known pattern of a bacterial infection than a viral infection, Klugman's group wrote in a letter to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

 

"We observed a similar 10-day median time to death among soldiers dying of influenza in 1918," they wrote.

 

People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.

 

"Neither antimicrobial drugs nor serum therapy was available for treatment in 1918," Klugman's team wrote.

 

Now there are also vaccines that protect against many different strains of S. pneumoniae, which cause infections from pneumonia to meningitis.

 

Worst-case scenario

Most health experts agree that another pandemic of influenza is inevitable. There were smaller pandemics in 1958 and in 1967.

 

Many government projections have been based on a worst-case 1918 scenario, in which tens of millions of people would die globally and up to 40 percent of the work force would be out for weeks, either sick, caring for others who are sick, or avoiding public places for fear of infection.

 

"Based on 1918 we would project less mortality in an era of antibiotics," Klugman said in an e-mail.

 

"We -are currently modeling this — assuming of course that the bacterial superinfections remain susceptible to the antibiotics and that sufficient antibiotics are available."

 

 

No one knows when a pandemic of flu might strike. Every year seasonal influenza kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people.

 

A pandemic occurs when a new strain of flu begins infecting people. One big fear is that H5N1 influenza, currently infecting many birds in Asia, Europe and Africa, might make the jump to people.

 

H5N1 currently infects people only rarely but it has killed 254 out of 405 infected since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Many countries and companies are stockpiling antiviral drugs and vaccines in case it does strike.

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29038301/

[Crazy4Canning]

Thanks for sharing this. It is a good reminder to prep in many different ways. I know I have my 'go to' items for illness. It's a good reminder to get a larger variety and to order more of what I need.

 

[sassenach]

The problem with a flu virus, such as the one in 1918 is that it weakened the persons immunity further by trying to fight it and like many illnesses, this happens and then the bacteria can then get a foothold. Countless folks die of pneumonia on top of another illness, and as it said here, strep was a factor..... being ready to jump right in on the more vulnerable persons who had had the flu then.

 

After surgeries, there is always the risk that pneumonia will arise, as another example .... mostly because the breathing is stressed from the anaesthetic! Also, because hospitals are hotbeds of illness, and they are exposed in a more vulnerable state of being by that point.

 

This is the reason why respiratory distress is so critical, just as it is today with this new version of swine flu now out there.

 

It is great that we have antibiotics now, but as someone was told by their own doctor, the clinics could close and such things might go on if this gets very bad to deal with. It becomes overwhelming and we could get to a stage where we are literally on our own dealing with this illness and the possibility of death from it.

 

I hope it does not do that, but we have only just started to deal with this stuff. So prep! Be watchful on a daily basis and keep an eye on things with your families and communities. Good food, rest and some fun thrown in, to keep the stressors at bay.... and then, Stand.

 

They are worried that a second or third wave, as this flu virus mutates , by the Fall.... that things could get pretty hairy then. So take care of yourselves, do the best you can for nutrition and rest and all the basics to help build up your resistance levels and be adaptable.