Swine Flu Redux

originally posted at 2BucksWorth.com

Science being my livelihood and history being my favorite hobby, I always find it interesting when the two intersect. The current flu pandemic, admittedly, has been over-hyped by the media (what isn't these days?) but also I think that based on history and our knowledge of the virus, the public response has so far been mostly appropriate.

First of all, every health official lives in fear of a repeat the 1918 flu pandemic, the so-called "Spanish Flu", which lasted for over two years and killed somewhere between 20 and 100 million people worldwide. Adding to the horror of the sheer numbers was the pathology of the disease, frightening effects like the cytokine storm that made it so deadly. That's why health officials err on the side of caution.

But they have overrated in the past too. For those to young to remember the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak (I was 6 years old), it was a study in too much, too soon. The U.S. government rushed a vaccine into production, and the resulting immunizations killed far more people than the flu did. They even used TV spots to push the vaccinations:



Ultimately, only one person died of the 1976 Swine Flu, the vaccine killed 25.

Even the recent Bird Flu scare had it's usefulness, the plans put in place for the Bird Flu outbreak that never came our way left us more ready to quickly react to this new flu. This time, a rapid but reasonable response seems to be working, and may have saved countless lives.

Apparently, we do learn from history. Sometimes.

Nolanbuck