Bacteria Not Flu Killed Most In 1918

http://www.motherjones.com/blue_marble_blog/archives/2008/08/9177_bacteria_not_fl.html

A new study in Emerging Infectious Diseases concludes that bacteria not influenza killed most people in the 1918 flu epidemic. The lesson: stock up on antibiotics for the next flu pandemic—bird flu, horse flu, or otherwise.

New Scientist reports that researchers sifted through first-hand accounts, medical records, and infection patterns from 1918 and 1919. They found that bacterial pneumonia piggybacked on surprisingly mild flu cases. And the victims didn't die fast. A supervirus would have likely killed them in three days. Instead, most people lasted more than a week and some survived two weeks—classic hallmarks of pneumonia. Most compelling: medical experts of the day identified pneumonia as the cause of most of the 100 million deaths—the most lethal natural event in recent human history. Other research suggests the brutal mechanism. Influenza killed cells in the respiratory tract, which became food and home for invading bacteria that overwhelmed overstressed immune systems.

Ten years later, penicillin overpowered bacteria in subsequent influenza epidemics. But nowadays we're having those nagging antibiotic problems.

So health authorities are increasingly interested in the role bacteria will likely play in the next pandemic. Yet little action has been taken. "They are just starting to get to the recognition stage," says Jonathan McCullers, infectious disease expert. "There's this collective amnesia about 1918."

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.

I thought it was conclusive that the 1918 flu crossed the blood-brain barrier and decerebated the brain-stem... Any pneumonia that hastened death was probably a blessing.

Piggybacked bacterial pneumonia did play a role in some, but not all, cases. This was no mild strain of the flu.

my sister and I stories of this, she called it the "bloody flux" because they spit up blood right before they died, and she said they died in just days most of the time. She spent a lot of time sewing shrouds to buy them in. I don't buy this article.

I've heard chilling stories like that from grandparents.

I was having problems with Pneumonia following the Flu and viral infections until my Doctor ordered a Pneumonia Vaccine for me. No problems since.

It's what kills most people in the end. Get it and you may live a lot longer.

Many years ago, I wandered around southern Africa gathering oral histories from elderly black South Africans. Many did not know their birthdays, so we would use the flu epidemic as a rough dating device.

People who had survived the epidemic called it by a Dutch/Afrikaans name, "drie dag" (three day) or "drie dae" (three days), and they said that was because if you got it, you either died in three days or you survived.

The study, however, says:

"A supervirus would have likely killed them in three days. Instead, most people lasted more than a week and some survived two weeks—classic hallmarks of pneumonia."

But my point is that in South Africa, it seems it overwhelmingly killed in 3 days, suggesting, as the study says, a very virulent virus. Of course, I'm sure many survived drie dag and died of pneumonia as well.

But, which antibiotics?

until the end of WWII: shortly after its discovery, the discoverer did begin using crude preparations of it to treat infections in some patients in the London hospital where he worked, but a great deal of work was needed to isolate and test the active agent and to provide industrial scale manufacture

So it is somewhat misleading to claim that "ten years <after the flu pandemic> penicillin overpowered bacteria"

The first "wonder-drugs" were the sulfa-drugs, which were widely used during the WWII era


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,850206,00.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3874/is_199901/ai_n8844382/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

some went down almost instantly from what is a called a cytokine storm; the immune reaction goes into overload and destroys the body. Others lingered and were taken down by opportunistic bacteria. Ironically, it was the young and strong who were most likely to die from a cytokine storm!@

nt

http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/8/1193.htm

as a scientist in training, i think it is always best to read exactly what researchers say and look over their data (though, i do love mother jones). i have to get back into the lab but will sift through the article later.

Pneumonia is scary.

has been that my grandmother (Dad's mother; he was 5 at the time and the baby of the family, and he's 94 now!) caught the bug as a result of caring for others who were sick; she died therefrom.