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The lethal avian flu virus of 1918, which has been recreated in the laboratory, bears some similarity to today’s H5N1 virus and is being studied in animals.
In this study, seven monkeys were infected with the 1918 virus. Within 24 hours, they appeared depressed, refused to eat or drink, developed a dry cough and nasal discharge, and then became seriously ill. The 1918 virus multiplied in much greater numbers in these monkeys than a typical flu virus, and it rapidly infected the entire respiratory tract, causing severe lung pathology (bloody intraalveolar exudates) that led to profound hypoxia. It also spread to the heart and spleen. Compared with the immune response generated by a typical flu virus, the 1918 virus elicited much greater produ…