Статья про “свиной” грипп

На CNN нашел интересную статью.

Даже не о самом “свином” гриппе (swine flu) или (H1N1 flu virus), а о тех уроках, которые ученые сейчас пытаются извлечь из предыдущих эпидемий этого вируса.

К сожалению, статья на английском.

In each of the four major pandemics since 1889, a spring wave of relatively mild illness was followed by a second wave, a few months later, of a much more virulent disease. This was true in 1889, 1957, 1968 and in the catastrophic flu outbreak of 1918, which sickened an estimated third of the world’s population and killed, conservatively, 50 million people.

Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist at George Washington University, who has studied the course of prior pandemics in both the United States and her native Denmark, says, “The good news from past pandemics, in several experiences, is that the majority of deaths have happened not in the first wave, but later.” Based on this, Simonsen suggests there may be time to develop an effective vaccine before a second, more virulent strain, begins to circulate.

И еще один отрывок оттуда же.

Markel describes a dramatic example in the mining town of Gunnison, Colorado. In 1918, town leaders built a veritable barricade, closing down the railroad station and blocking all roads into town. Four thousand townspeople lived on stockpiled supplies and food from hunting or fishing. For 3½ months, while influenza raged in nearly every city in America, Gunnison saw not a single case of flu — not until the spring, when roads were reopened and a handful of residents fell sick.

Статья — полностью.

А вот по этой ссылке можно найти фотографии эпидемии “свиного” гриппа (H1N1 flu virus) 1918 — 1919 гг. в Испании.