Comments on: Flu survivors still immune after 90 years

By: Lawrence Benavidez

Lawrence Benavidez — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:57:01 +0000

I read this article several months ago and just now found it again. I would hope the CDC is aware of this with the new H1N1 pandemic. I just haven’t heard anything through the media outlets. Also do know if the herpevirus is able to fight off the flu or any other virus.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:48:09 +0000

Thank Abel. I’d be interested to see what others make of the decision to resurrect 1918 flu. Are the risks justified? Are they overplayed?

By: Abel Pharmboy

Abel Pharmboy — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:01:12 +0000

The 1918 influenza virus has fascinated me ever since Laurie Garrett wrote about it in The Coming Plague. I am not an immunologist so I really appreciate the superb and accessible analysis of the Nature article you’ve presented here.
The multivalency of some antibodies in these survivors toward other more recent but less-deadly strains of influenza certainly holds promise for development of better vaccines. As you note in your last paragraph, the potential for such tremendous benefit to human health is reason alone to have reconstructed the 1918 virus (another remarkable story, indeed.).