Bacteria played role in 1918 viral flu deaths, scientists say

[spindrifter]

LA Times

By Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:41 PM PDT, August 17, 2008
Most deaths in the 1918 influenza pandemic were due not to the virus alone but to common bacterial infections that took advantage of victims' weakened immune systems, according to two new studies that could change the nation's strategy against the next pandemic.

"We have to realize that it isn't just antivirals that we need," said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and co-author of one study. "We need to make sure that we're prepared to treat people with antibiotics," said Fauci, whose study will be released online this month by the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

<snip>

Writing about the 1918 influenza outbreak in the August issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers reported that few deaths were swift, which is what scientists believed characterized a viral pandemic.

Instead, they found that most deaths occurred a week to two weeks later -- indicating that the deaths were the result of opportunistic bacterial infections.

<more>

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-flu18-2008aug18,0,2160309.story

[Octafish]

1. Important Information

Death, like life, is complicated.

This new information gives us a better chance at the latter.

For the longest darn time, physicians have been thinking that viruses usually must run their course. It turns out that those few doctors that prescribed antibiotics were on to something.

[lonestarnot]

2. As in secondary infection can be killer.

[SheilaT]

3. Here's something else to keep in mind

every time you read some scare story about how another flu epidemic could be as bad or worse than the 1918 one: Hand washing. Yep. Simply hygiene and hand washing is the best public health measure there is. And in 1918 not as many people had access to running water, nor did they wash their hands as regularly as we tend to today.

[donco6]

4. The Great Influenza talks about this.

by John Barry. Really good book. Brings in the concurrent history of public health (which Repubs are seeming ignorant of), Johns Hopkins and the great medical centers, virus versus bacteria, big debate over which brought about death . . . just fascinating.