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> When COVID spreads in Africa and makes a new strain, it may as well be on your own doorstep. The world needs to step up and distribute vaccines to every corne

by arbuge 5y ago

> When COVID spreads in Africa and makes a new strain, it may as well be on your own doorstep. The world needs to step up and distribute vaccines to every corner of the globe, for FREE, or we’ll never get out of this. This isn't quite true. All epidemics come to an end eventually, vaccines or no vaccines. There were no vaccines to end the 1918 flu epidemic, but that one too died out just like all the ones before it in a few years' time. At a far greater cost to human life, of course, but we "got out" of it.

scotty79 5y ago
> All epidemics come to an end eventually, vaccines or no vaccines. Yeah, but sometimes only after wiping half of all humans.
em3rgent0rdr 5y ago
The 1918 flu epidemic arguably still persists to this day: > What’s even more remarkable about the 1918 flu, say infectious disease experts, is that it never really went away. After infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919 (a third of the global population), the H1N1 strain that caused the Spanish flu receded into the background and stuck around as the regular seasonal flu. > But every so often, direct descendants of the 1918 flu combined with bird flu or swine flu to create powerful new pandemic strains, which is exactly what happened in 1957, 1968 and 2009. Those later flu outbreaks, all created in part by the 1918 virus, claimed millions of additional lives, earning the 1918 flu the odious title of “the mother of all pandemics.” [1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/1918-...
- em3rgent0rdr 5y ago
  > The impact of this pandemic was not limited to 1918–1919. All influenza A pandemics since that time, and indeed almost all cases of influenza A worldwide (excepting human infections from avian viruses such as H5N1 and H7N7), have been caused by descendants of the 1918 virus, including "drifted" H1N1 viruses and reassorted H2N2 and H3N2 viruses. The latter are composed of key genes from the 1918 virus, updated by subsequently incorporated avian influenza genes that code for novel surface proteins, making the 1918 virus indeed the "mother" of all pandemics. [1] https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article

by arbuge 5y ago

scotty79 5y ago

> All epidemics come to an end eventually, vaccines or no vaccines. Yeah, but sometimes only after wiping half of all humans.

em3rgent0rdr 5y ago

The 1918 flu epidemic arguably still persists to this day: > What’s even more remarkable about the 1918 flu, say infectious disease experts, is that it never really went away. After infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919 (a third of the global population), the H1N1 strain that caused the Spanish flu receded into the background and stuck around as the regular seasonal flu. > But every so often, direct descendants of the 1918 flu combined with bird flu or swine flu to create powerful new pandemic strains, which is exactly what happened in 1957, 1968 and 2009. Those later flu outbreaks, all created in part by the 1918 virus, claimed millions of additional lives, earning the 1918 flu the odious title of “the mother of all pandemics.” [1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/1918-...

em3rgent0rdr 5y ago
> The impact of this pandemic was not limited to 1918–1919. All influenza A pandemics since that time, and indeed almost all cases of influenza A worldwide (excepting human infections from avian viruses such as H5N1 and H7N7), have been caused by descendants of the 1918 virus, including "drifted" H1N1 viruses and reassorted H2N2 and H3N2 viruses. The latter are composed of key genes from the 1918 virus, updated by subsequently incorporated avian influenza genes that code for novel surface proteins, making the 1918 virus indeed the "mother" of all pandemics. [1] https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article