1918.... what are the chances?

What do you wager are the odds that in the midst of the h1n1 epidemic there will be an appearance of "vintage" strain 1918 spanish flu as well, perhaps indistiguishable from the lowlier swine flu?

there was a great flurry around the project of rebuilding these past few years, and now it seems there was an experiment last fall to deliberately infect pigs with the "vintage" 1918 human swine flu.


It's got to be somebody's pride and joy right? WHO could resist the temptation to take old faithful out for a night on the town?

I apologize if this has been discussed before. But seeing this year's h1n1 and the 1918 "gripa" uttered in the same sentence so many times together, it almost gets to feeling like an invocation at times.

[edit on 4-11-2009 by Asphodelven]

Originally posted by Asphodelven

What do you wager are the odds that in the midst of the h1n1 epidemic there will be an appearance of "vintage" strain 1918 spanish flu as well, perhaps indistiguishable from the lowlier swine flu?

there was a great flurry around the project of rebuilding these past few years, and now it seems there was an experiment last fall to deliberately infect pigs with the "vintage" 1918 human swine flu.


It's got to be somebody's pride and joy right? WHO could resist the temptation to take old faithful out for a night on the town?

I apologize if this has been discussed before. But seeing this year's h1n1 and the 1918 "gripa" uttered in the same sentence so many times together, it almost gets to feeling like an invocation at times.

[edit on 4-11-2009 by Asphodelven]

Didn't Karl Marx write, "first time tragedy, second time farce". To paraphrase.

He was writing about Napolean 1 and Napolean 3.

reply to post by Asphodelven

ASP- I am sorry to have to say that the chances are better than one might believe they are. I know for a fact that certain unnamed Labs have been digging up dead bodies frozen in the Alaska area in 1918 that have died from the spanish flu ( genetically very similar to H1N1) and they have been reconstituting the virus to study it- so..yes it could be mixed in with the H1N1.
KMG

reply to post by Asphodelven

ASP- I am sorry to have to say that the chances are better than one might believe they are. I know for a fact that certain unnamed Labs have been digging up dead bodies frozen in the Alaska area in 1918 that have died from the spanish flu ( genetically very similar to H1N1) and they have been reconstituting the virus to study it- so..yes it could be mixed in with the H1N1.
KMG

Even if something like the 1918 spanish flu did turn up out of the blue it still would not kill as many people as it did in western countries.We have better technology and medicines now to fight a virus like that, than in 1918.We have better security and health protocols that would restrict the spread of a virus like this.I cannot say the same about third world countries or countries like ukrain who have substanded health and security protocols.Some parts of Africa for examlpe would be a disaster.

[edit on 4-11-2009 by GORGANTHIUM]

Ah yes, I forgot about the reassuring hints about roadblocks and national guard regiments, of course!

reply to post by GORGANTHIUM

Well I think it depends whether the virus will be "like" Spanish Flu or the same as Spanish Flu. Apparently there was another minor outbreak in the 1950s and 1970s (quoting a Nat Geo program from memory). If one has ancestry in areas where spanish Flu struck, one would have a great deal of genetic protection.
A huge nightmare would be a resistant strain of smallpox escaping from a lab.