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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) |
