Origin of Influenza Pandemic

The “Spanish Flu” pandemic came to the attention of people during World War I. Because of this there are a lot of unknowns associated with the numbers and the origin of this pandemic. Because of the time of war, it is very difficult to know where and how this started, but there are several theories associated with it.

The Spanish flu has a very misleading title. Because of the war, countries did not allow the death toll or constant updates on the infection to be published. In Spain, however, the

newspapers published updates. This gave a very misleading appearance that the outbreak was most severe in Spain. This background gives us the impression that the information available on the Influenza pandemic can be misleading and altered so that it appears differently.

The structure of the molecule involves a series of spikes which allow it to attach to surface cells and eventually enter the body. This involves proteins Haemagglutinin and neuraminidase which bind to sugars on the cells they target.

There have been 16 serotypes found of Haemagglutinin and 9 found of neuraminidase. This means the Influenza virus has a lot of variability. Antigenic shift is another dangerous factor of the virus. This allows genes from the virus to cross over and form new ones.

I, personally, believe the theory that the virus originated in British Army camps. This is a realistic theory because army camps would have been a very reasonable site to spread a virus. With people coming and going into battle where they came into contact with others, it is understandable that a virus would spread. In addition, at this time there was a “purulent

bronchitis” spreading in these camps. This could have really been the “Spanish Flu” before they had discovered the new infection.

The evidence against this being a possible cause is the growth in this area. The “purulent bronchitis” did not spread at a high magnitude or to a great extent. This is different from the rapidly spreading Spanish flu that infected and killed millions. However, it is possible that this infection mutated into the influenza strain that created this pandemic.

While there is no real way to know how the Spanish flu started and the magnitude at which it grew in most places, there are definitely some possible theories.

Sources : h ttps://www.chemistryworld.com/features/fighting-the-flu/3004595.article