In March 1945 a 33 year old woman was hospitalized in New Haven Connecticut. She had been there for a month with a streptococcal infection. She was delirious and her temperature approached 107 degrees. Sulfa drugs, and surgery had no effect. As a last resort the doctors tried a small dose of an experimental drug called Penicillin. She died in June 1999.
The influenza pandemic was caused by the H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. According to Laura Spinney in Pale Rider[1] birds are a “natural reservoir” for flu. A natural reservoir carries a pathogen without ever getting sick, the virus completes the its life cycle without unleashing an immune response. Ducks, for example, can be heavily infected with the flu virus without showing any sign of the disease. Pig cells share many similarities with bird cells and human cells, making them a natural conduit for transmissible diseases. These were two of the earliest animals domesticated in the farming revolution.
Pandemics have moved across populations since the earliest recorded history. There have been three plague pandemics, seven cholera pandemics, and there were three major influenza pandemics in the twentieth century alone.
Until the widespread availability of vaccines and antibiotics epidemic diseases were the leading cause of death worldwide. Even in technologically advanced countries the leading cause of death yearly was a “crowd disease.” Vaccines changed that, lowered the level of threat, offered the opportunity for immunity without all of the problems of actually getting sick, and possibly dying.
Even since vaccines have become an institution an occasional surprise would pop up. In the decades that followed influenza pandemics raged and subsided several times. Influenza is an efficient killer, because it is an adaptable killer. Strains mutate to overcome the immune response. Science has learned to respond, fairly quickly, adapting the vaccine to the newest strains, we may not be safe, but at least we’re saved, for now.
Covid-19 is the latest global threat, like the flu it may be here to stay. it won’t be the last illness to circle the globe proving we’re all a lot closer than we realize. We need to accept the weight of another threat, and the efficient scientific response.
It is disheartening to hear so many people in positions of authority questioning the evidence, the proof offered by the same organizations that changed the trajectory of humanity. It is disturbing to hear the pointed, proof-less accusations of fraud, manipulation and deceit being leveled at the very disciplines that gave us the opportunity to live long enough to die from heart disease. And, coincidentally, would help us reduce that threat significantly if we would listen to them. Maybe next time there won’t be any people willing to risk the ridicule and persecution.
I can’t help think of the Salem witch trials, the European flagellants, the times, facing darkness and despair mankind has turned to hate and blame. It makes a person wish evolution worked a little more quickly.
[1] An intriguing account of the Spanish flu, 1918-1919, with a rich background in infectious diseases through history.
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