Post by: BryanP on January 18, 2007, 09:05:24 AM
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/300109_flu18.html
1918 flu ravaged body's defenses
Thursday, January 18, 2007
By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER
Monkeys infected with a resurrected influenza virus responsible for history's deadliest pandemic have provided further evidence that the 1918 Spanish flu was so deadly because the virus somehow causes the immune system to overreact and attack the victim's body.
"It's still a mystery," said Dr. Michael Katze, a University of Washington virologist and one of the lead scientists on the research conducted at a high-security laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "We don't really know how or why this happens."
Katze and UW colleague John Kash were among a group of researchers who, last September, reported that mice infected with the 1918 flu virus caused a violent immune response. In today's article, published in the journal Nature, they and others have shown the response in infected macaque monkeys is just as rapid and violent.
"The guys in Winnipeg are used to dealing with things like ebola and they were still quite surprised at the extreme virulence of this virus in the macaques," Katze said. This is an important finding because monkeys are much closer to humans biologically, he said, and the observation of immune system overreaction in mice had to be confirmed in primates.
In 1918, the Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people worldwide and tended to hit healthy young adults hardest. Routine, seasonal flu tends to kill mostly the very young and the very old. In 1918, it was those with the healthiest immune system who died.
"Essentially, people are drowned by themselves," said University of Wisconsin virology Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka, co-author of the study.
The Winnipeg experiment was supposed to last 21 days. But after eight days the monkeys were so sick -- feverish, in pain and having difficulty breathing -- that ethical guidelines forced the researchers to euthanize all seven of them ahead of schedule.
Katze and his colleagues did not handle the virus or the monkeys. The UW was involved because of its expertise in doing "functional genomic" analysis of tissue samples -- basically, looking for genetic clues that can explain what happens during infection.
"We still don't know why the host response was so violent, which viral genes are most important or what are the viral determinants of (the course of disease)," Katze said.
The 1918 virus, which was recovered from frozen corpses and reconstructed using reverse genetics, exists today only in two highly secure (known as Biosafety Level 4) labs where scientists are allowed to study it. This research was conducted at Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
"This research provides an important piece in the puzzle of the 1918 virus, helping us to better understand influenza viruses and their potential to cause pandemics," said Dr. Darwyn Kobasa, lead author for this study and a researcher at the Canadian lab.
Kobasa and his colleagues said they were amazed by how rapidly and violently the virus attacked the macaques. The virus spread faster than a normal flu bug, he said, and triggered what some experts call a "storm" in the animal's immune systems.
Their bodies' defenses went haywire, not knowing when to stop, researchers said. The lungs became inflamed, filled with blood and fluids, threatening to drown the animals.
"It's a very good replicating virus and therefore it can affect more of the immune system," said Peter Palese, chairman of the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Palese wasn't part of the study but has worked on the 1918 virus.
The reason the scientific community today is especially interested in trying to figure out what exactly happened in 1918 is because the virus appears to have begun as a bird flu.
One strain of bird flu in circulation today, known as H5N1, is believed to have the potential to spark another human pandemic. It already has spread around the world in birds and killed a small number of people, but has yet to transmit easily from person to person. If it does, scientists think understanding the 1918 flu may give them clues about how to protect people from it.
The new work "gives us another tool," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, who was not part of the research. Fauci praised the study and said what it found in the effects on the body are stunning: "There aren't a lot of things that can induce that robust of an inflammatory response that quickly."
Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.
� 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Post by: roo_ster on January 18, 2007, 09:38:46 AM
I bet that we are in no wise prepared to deal with one.
Post by: Firethorn on January 18, 2007, 09:43:00 AM
We are due for another pandemic, be it bird flu or something else.
I bet that we are in no wise prepared to deal with one.
I bet that we are in no wise prepared to deal with one.
And have we ever been truly prepared to deal with them in the past, other than to collect and bury or burn the bodies?
Disease is about the only reason I would support military enforced quarentines. While not 100% effective, done right it can slow the spread and save many lives by allowing time for something to be found.
Post by: Strings on January 18, 2007, 10:58:17 AM
1918 essentially hyper-charges the imune system into attacking itself, right?
What is it that AIDS does again?
Post by: mtnbkr on January 18, 2007, 11:13:43 AM
pardon an idiot's musings here...
1918 essentially hyper-charges the imune system into attacking itself, right?
What is it that AIDS does again?
It simply wears it out, grinds it down. 1918 essentially hyper-charges the imune system into attacking itself, right?
What is it that AIDS does again?
Chris
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on January 18, 2007, 11:34:40 AM
pardon an idiot's musings here...
1918 essentially hyper-charges the imune system into attacking itself, right?
What is it that AIDS does again?
AIDs sort of switches the immune system off. Once off, the immune system cannot defend against any infections, be they HIV/AIDs or whatever other bugs the victim might come into contact with. Most people who die of AIDs don't die of AIDs proper, they die of other minor infections which are only a problem because of the compromised immune system.
1918 essentially hyper-charges the imune system into attacking itself, right?
What is it that AIDS does again?
Post by: Twycross on January 18, 2007, 11:40:35 AM
Post by: Iain on January 18, 2007, 11:47:40 AM
Post by: Twycross on January 18, 2007, 11:51:09 AM
1918 pandemic was noted for the death toll amongst those usually least affected - i.e young strong adults
That is correct.
Post by: Matthew Carberry on January 18, 2007, 02:16:58 PM
Plus many "healthy young men" were living cheek by jowel in military camps.
Post by: Balog on January 19, 2007, 01:19:52 PM
Quote from: Headless Thompson Gunner
AIDs sort of switches the immune system off. Once off, the immune system cannot defend against any infections, be they HIV/AIDs or whatever other bugs the victim might come into contact with.
Isn't that sorta how leprosy works?
Post by: Sindawe on January 19, 2007, 06:03:44 PM
http://www.leprosy.org/LEPfaq.html
Post by: Antibubba on January 19, 2007, 08:21:08 PM
Maybe a better bet than Tamiflu would be immuno-suppressants. That's so screwed up.
Post by: Twycross on January 19, 2007, 09:18:26 PM
So, with an immune system slowed by HIV, an AIDS patient might be more likely to survive this Flu?
I doubt it. The 1918 bug doesn't just turn the body against itself, it also acts as a regular flu. The theoretical AIDS patient would just have two potentially lethal threats.
Post by: Matthew Carberry on January 19, 2007, 09:30:06 PM
So, with an immune system slowed by HIV, an AIDS patient might be more likely to survive this Flu?
I doubt it. The 1918 bug doesn't just turn the body against itself, it also acts as a regular flu. The theoretical AIDS patient would just have two potentially lethal threats.
Two, two, two threats in one. Can your flu do that?
Scary stuff, imagine the chaos if something like that hit New York. I tell you what, all those enclosed spaces and handrails and such in and around the subways. Almost no way to effectively control people fleeing, other high-density cities just a hop, skip and a jump away. Perfect environment for a real contagious killer to go for a new record.
Post by: K Frame on January 20, 2007, 04:26:12 AM
Post by: mtnbkr on January 20, 2007, 05:28:40 AM
Or something to that effect. Kind of an interesting principle, but I'm not sure how much truth there is to it.
Chris
Post by: tokugawa on January 22, 2007, 03:54:44 PM
Post by: Sindawe on January 22, 2007, 04:48:06 PM
Post by: CNYCacher on January 24, 2007, 04:45:40 AM
Quote
. . .somehow causes the immune system to overreact and attack the victim's body.
Heh, I already got that going on. Body doesn't seem too happy with the old intestines and is trying to get rid of them. I am on immunosuppressive therapy for it so I guess I don't have to worry about this goofy flu.
OTOH, once the flu kills off everyone else, including the people who make my drugs and the doctors who give them to me, my "Omega Man" story will likely last less than 6 months and involve vomiting fecal material, so I guess it's a tradeoff.
S-H-T-Teeth scenario
