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MIT Solves the Mystery of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" Pandemic

dailygalaxy.com — MIT researchers have explained why two mutations in the H1N1 avian flu virus were critical for viral transmission in humans during the 1918 pandemic outbreak that killed at least 50 million people -believed more than that taken by the Black Death, and higher than the number killed in World War I.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 3, 2009

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28 Comments

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  • adeelarshad82, on 07/02/2009, -0/+30*phew* just in time!!!

    </s>
  • RiMac, on 07/03/2009, -2/+26NOT a mystery. Stop making misleading titles, digg, sheesh. The info is there if you look for it. This is a perfectly acceptable front-page story, but stop presenting it as breaking news, *****.
  • amnesiac87, on 07/03/2009, -0/+5I'm sure this realization will help millions sleep a little easier. If millions read it that is, they will fall asleep.
  • cosworth99, on 07/03/2009, -0/+5If they only had Joe Biden to warn everyone back then.
  • AmericanGunner, on 07/03/2009, -0/+5At the bottom of the article: "Don't miss the fascinating video, The Ghost Map -the story of the great cholera outbreak that devastated London in the 1870's."

    Mark your calenders...
  • Pinkertinkle, on 07/03/2009, -0/+4yeah i coulda told you it mutated into smth more deadly than usual too
  • fatlucy101, on 07/03/2009, -0/+4You're ABadPerson.
  • JimmyTheClam, on 07/03/2009, -0/+3The information in that article isn't entirely up-to-date.
    Last I heard they were able to trace the mutation and outbreak back to a British camp just outside of Étaples, France in 1915 and again in 1916.

    This very smart man seems to have figured it out.
    http://ec.europa.eu/research/profiles/index_en.cfm ...
  • z95headhunter, on 07/03/2009, -2/+5Maybe because it happened 91 ***** years ago?
  • slashdotordigg, on 07/03/2009, -0/+3IT'S OLDER THAN THE INTERNET!!
  • DrummerDudeXT, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2You can always count on MIT to solve anything. way to go MIT!
  • ConcernedCanuck, on 07/03/2009, -1/+3good now they can use that information to engineer a swine flu pandemic... oh wait... thats old news
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unHuArRxAew
  • ksgant, on 07/03/2009, -2/+4My dyslexia was showing, because I read that as "MTV Solves the Mystery..." I though DAMN! They really have gotten away from playing music videos".
  • undervalued, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2Its older than your mum.
  • wildkats74, on 07/04/2009, -0/+2you and the 4 others who dugg your comment might be the dumbest people on the Internet. Obviously this post means if they have figured out why this killed 50 million people or how it behaved, why aren't we seeing this covered on the news but instead are just getting spoon fed our typical sheep news.

    nevermind, if you didn't understand his comment, you won't understand mine.
  • 5urr3al5am, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2I wish these eggheads would solve something useful, like how the earth and all of the life that it olds is going to be completely destroyed because the average temperature has risen .5 degrees over the last 100 years
  • inactive, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2Didn't the black death kill a larger percentage of the overall population though? J/w.
  • enantiodromia, on 07/03/2009, -0/+2There you go again, Science.
  • everyonegohome, on 07/03/2009, -0/+1buried for old news
  • EverybodyPanic, on 07/03/2009, -2/+350 million people died from that pandemic, yet I see zero coverage on the news. It's only about Michael Jackson on every news channels.
  • mrpunman, on 07/03/2009, -2/+3Well, at least they can explain what happened. 91 years too late though.
  • Eshestun, on 07/03/2009, -0/+1Agreed, I learned this many years ago in Medical Virology 1.

    This is pretty much intro undergraduate *****.
  • fabriciom, on 07/03/2009, -1/+1Spanish Flu and it started in France? What the hell man! Giving Spain a bad name.
  • ktectropy, on 07/04/2009, -0/+0The difference is that the black death, and related illnesses, are completely treatable now. This one isn't. On a side note, people still die from the black death. More people in the US have died from the black death in the last few years than have died from swine flu.
  • Presbyterian, on 07/03/2009, -1/+1Is it that big of a mystery, I doubt they had much in terms of health care back then.
  • sexybobo, on 07/03/2009, -6/+6***** the RIAA!
  • fabriciom, on 07/03/2009, -1/+0Why don't you just, Beat It! Are you Bad? I'm Bad!
  • ABadPerson, on 07/03/2009, -3/+2***** you!

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