In 1918 a flu epidemic killed some 20-40 million people worldwide. Because most of the deaths occurred in people between the ages of 20 and 40 (not the very old or the very young as is usually the case), scientists have long been puzzled by this outbreak. They have also worried that such a flu outbreak again--in a much more populated world--could be even more tragic.

So they have enlisted the help of at least one mummy in their effort to study this 80-year-old flu.  By tracking down lung tissue samples from some of the victims, Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger and other scientists were able to study small pieces of the flu virus.  

[One sample came from the lungs of an Army private.  When an autopsy was performed shortly after the private's death, the doctor in charge sliced a small section of the man's lungs, soaked it in formaldehyde and pressed it into a piece of candle wax before sending it to Washington, D.C. for storage.]

But they also were able to use the mummy of a woman who died from the flu in 1918 in a rural Alaskan town. She was buried there in a mass grave with 72 other adults (almost the entire population of the town) who also died from the flu. Because she was buried in cold ground in a cold climate, her body had frozen rather than decomposed. Scientists were able to recover a sample of her lung tissue as well.

What did the scientists discover? 

First, they found that the 1918 flu virus was a normal flu virus (hardly a "killer virus"). Although it circled the world, taking victims as it went, the virus did not seem to mutate much. As to why so many people were killed, scientists speculate that World War I troop movements and crowded conditions led to the epidemic. However, they are still uncertain why it killed so many people in the prime of their lives.

Perhaps other preserved samples will bring more answers. (The New York Times, 2/16/99, p. A12)