Origins of the current H1N1 Pandemic
10/21/2009 - A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine (Morens DM et al) notes that the great pandemic of 1918 occurred when an avian strain of influenza adapted to mammals. During the pandemic, it appears that humans transmitted the virus to pigs. This virus has continued to circulate in the swine population for the past 8 decades and is the forerunner of the H1N1 now circulating around the world. The authors note that the direct descendants of the 1918 virus caused the pandemics in 1957 (H2N2) and 1968 (H3N2) as well as the "pandemic-like events in 1947 (H1N1), 1951 (H1N1), 1997 (H3N2) and 2003 (H3N2).
Mark M. Blatter, M.D.
Medical Director
Primary Physicians Research