1918 Flu Decoded: Scientists Uncover the 1918 Influenza Genetic Blueprint
A Century‑Old Flu Genome Unlocks Pandemic Secrets
Swiss scientists have decoded the 1918 influenza genome from a preserved Zurich patient, shedding light on how the deadly outbreak first adapted to humans.
The 1918 Pandemic: A Global Horror
- Known as the Great Influenza epidemic, the H1N1 SARS‑like virus infected roughly one‑third of the world.
- Death estimates range from 17 million to 50 million, possibly reaching 100 million.
- As an enveloped, negative‑sense, segmented RNA virus, the virus could evolve by mutation and reassortment, enabling immune evasion and host jumps.
Breaking the 1918 Code
Using a new method to recover fragile RNA from preserved tissue, researchers compared the Swiss genome to previous German and North American strains. They found that the Swiss virus already carried three key human adaptations that persisted throughout the pandemic.
- Two mutations rendered the virus resistant to a human antiviral component, a major barrier preventing avian‑to‑human transmissions.
- A third mutation altered a membrane protein, improving binding to human cell receptors and increasing resilience and infectivity.
Lead researcher Verena Schünemann remarked, “This is the first time we’ve accessed a 1918‑1920 influenza genome in Switzerland. The data open new insights into early European adaptation dynamics.”
Implications for Modern Public Health
Understanding viral evolution from past pandemics is critical for developing targeted countermeasures. The new recovery technique can reconstruct additional ancient RNA genomes and confirm the authenticity of recovered fragments.
Schünemann added, “A deeper grasp of long‑term human adaptation during a pandemic enables us to model future outbreaks. Our interdisciplinary approach combines historical epidemiology with genetic transmission patterns to establish evidence‑based foundations.”
Publication Details
The study appears in BMC Biology under the title “An ancient influenza genome from Switzerland allows deeper insights into host adaptation during the 1918 flu pandemic in Europe.”
