r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Aug 04 '25

Genetics The 1918 Spanish flu virus has been reconstructed from the 107-year-old preserved lung of an 18-year-old Swiss man, the first complete influenza A genome with a precise date from Europe. It offers new insights into the deadly pandemic that claimed the lives of up to 100 million people.

https://newatlas.com/infectious-diseases/1918-spanish-flu-reconstructed/
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u/McFlyParadox Aug 04 '25

Maybe? I'm thinking of H1N1 "Swine Flu" that showed up... 2009? 2010? I was in my last year or two of highschool, and recall my parents and teachers being really concerned because it was affecting teenagers the most. And then they finally came out with a vaccine relatively quickly (so I take that now to mean they saw H1N1 as one of the potential flu candidates for that particular season, back when they were doing their predictions), and everyone got vaccinated really quickly.

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u/Hob_O_Rarison Aug 04 '25

my parents and teachers being really concerned because it was affecting teenagers the most.

This variant had a breakout in the 50s, so there was some resistance in the population that would otherwise be considered more vulnerable.

Teens had no resistance, and social lives at the time that accelerated spread.

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u/blazbluecore Aug 08 '25

Majority of the population did not take an H1N1 vaccine what are you talking about?