News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Experts who have studied the 1918 pandemic have long puzzled over why the mortality rate in young adults was so high, a feature that might be explained by pathologic immune responses related to previous flu exposure, according to a new theory from a research team.

(CIDRAP News) – A study of preserved lung sections from 68 US soldiers who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic shows that cases from the spring and fall pandemic waves looked much the same and that there is no evidence of viral mutations that could readily explain why the fall wave was so lethal.

(CIDRAP News) – It was secondary bacterial pneumonia—not the influenza virus by itself—that killed most of the millions who perished in the 1918 flu pandemic, which suggests that current pandemic preparations should include stockpiling of antibiotics and bacterial vaccines, influenza researchers reported this week.