In 1918, a flu pandemic ripped through the global population with such speed and virulence that by the end of the following year an estimated 40 million people would be dead — four times the number of victims eventually claimed by the First World War. The flu’s impact was simultaneously felt in nearly every corner of the earth, from the battlefields of Europe and Northern Africa to remote Inuit villages in Alaska and the grasslands of New Zealand. The international medical community, lacking the expertise to deal with the virus (which it mistakenly believed to be a bacterium), found itself powerless to stop the contagion from spreading. Hospitals ran out of beds for their sick. Morgues spilled out onto the streets, the corpses stacked on the sidewalks like cordwood. And the war ensured that the cycle would continue. Troops from both sides of the conflict, dispatched back and forth across the globe, were serving as the unwitting carriers of a lethal disease. The carousel of death kept turning.
Where did this particular flu strain come from, and what made it so deadly? 85 years later, virologists and epidemiologists the world over are still hunting down the answers to those two critical questions. Their quest has been imbued with a sense of urgency; modern health experts are bracing themselves for the emergence of a flu strain similar to 1918’s, with many suggesting a similar pandemic will occur within the next decade. The recent SARS outbreak showed the ability of the World Health Organization to promulgate widespread awareness of a deadly virus, but in the words of British virologist John Oxford, SARS was no flu. “If it was influenza A,” he says, “we would [have been] dusting down our pandemic plans. One day, one awful day, those plans will have to be brought out.”
The cornerstone of those plans will likely be the findings of scientists like American pathologist Jeffery Taubenberger. In 1997, in the U.S. Armed Forces laboratory where he works, Taubenberger discovered what virologists had been coveting for decades — lung tissue from a 1918 flu victim that contained fragments of the undamaged virus. For the past six years, Taubenberger has worked to map the virus’ genetic code one gene at a time in an effort to unlock the secret of how it killed millions. He even recently introduced some of the 1918 flu’s genes into present-day live virus and injected the modified strain into lung tissue cells to better study the impact it has on its host. “If we can shed light on why the 1918 virus was so lethal and can understand the genetic basis of that, that information can be applied to the emergence of new influenza strains,” Taubenberger says. “I think it’s really crucial that we do that.” But will Taubenberger and his colleagues crack the entire code in time?
I just want to say that, I appreciate the way in which Mexico and the US openly and honestly addressed the recent outbreak of flu. Some say it was an overreaction, I say we are fortunate to have such responsible and action orientented medical professionals.
If the US was really serious about stopping the spread of the H1N1 virus, then why not shut the border to Mexico? The only lame reason I’ve heard for leaving it open is that because a few people in the US are already infected, there would be no point. How stupid do they think we are?
Can we advoid another deadly flu pandemic?
It was a responsable reaction of our new government to the AH1N1 virus… it was descriminatory the action of china against innocent mexicans……the mexico government reacted very eficienty about this virus.Some americans must learn we are living in a global world,everything that happen afect everyone in the world.
Yes, but closing down the border would have been the only way to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus. This would have decreased the spread, as well as unneccesary deaths.
The swine flu of our current time, 2009 has been reversed engineered. In other words ITS MAN MADE. Motive? = Windfall profits for vaccine manufacturer and meeting the agenda of the Eugenicists. Depopulating humanity is the agenda.
CRIMINAL TIMELINE
The criminal timeline begins in 1997, when Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger assembled a team of geneticists and microbiologists to analyze the genome structure, and then to REPRODUCE (i.e. reverse engineer) what is arguably one of the most deadly viral structures the world has ever been cursed with the 1918 killer flu virus. According to numerous published stories and reports, Taubenberger and his team utilized super-computers to map the complex RNA and DNA structures of the killer virus, then utilized human plasmids to successfully re-create the 1918 killer. Taubenberger completed his work in early 2005, then immediately left the employ of the U.S. Army at Ft. Detrick to take a much more lucrative position with the National Institutes of Health. His new focus was to create a VACCINE against the very same 1918 killer flu that he and his team had, just months earlier, successfully “reverse engineered” and created.
This researcher is very confident that a focused criminal investigation would likely reveal prima facia evidence that Taubenberger was in reality working for Novartis while employed with the N.I.H. and was quite likely the primary author of Novartis’ Nov. 6, 2005 “provisional” patent application. On page 2, paragraph 32 of the patent publication we read, quote: “The influenza virus [that the 'invention vaccine' is designed to protect against] may be a reassortant strain, and may have been obtained by reverse genetics techniques. Reverse genetics techniques allow influenza viruses with desired genome segments to be prepared in vitro using plasmids.” The remnant of the paragraph then goes into very specific detail as to the actual mechanics of how the pandemic virus was actually created by Taubenberger’s Ft. Detrick team. At the very least, the author of the patent application had to have studied Taubenberger’s various published reports on his work at Detrick, for the wording and science is virtually verbatim. Novartis International AG is simply the world’s largest, multi-national pharmaceutical company with over $53 Billion USD revenue generated in 2008. It’s headquarters is located in Basel, Switzerland, home of the vaunted “Swiss Guards” who provide all security measures for the Vatican and the Club of Rome. The company logo symbolizes the “eternal flame” of the Illuminati “enlightened ones”. Dig into Novartis International AG’s long history, and one finds that it began as a component of the infamous I.G. Farben combine, which in turn was primarily responsible for the rise of Adolph Hitler and the German/Austrian Third Reich.
http://www.rense.com/general86/manmd.htm
Wake up world
Greed may be a powerful motivator, but I refuse to believe Dr. Taubenberger would endanger the lives of millions just to get rich. Such outrageous claims require exceptional evidence, not the coincidences and innuendo posted below. Personally, I think that as soon as a person trots out the Illuminati, he or she loses all credibility with an intelligent audience.
“Personally, I think that as soon as a person trots out the Illuminati, he or she loses all credibility with an intelligent audience.”
WHAT A CRASS AND ARROGANT COMMENT OH GOVERNMENT BRAINWASHED ‘INTELLIGENT’ PERSON….probably still believing that Kennedy was shot from behind by Oswald rather than descend to the stupid level of ‘conspiracy theorists’ and watch the Zapruder video. GROW UP!!!
Just want to say that “Secrets of the Dead” is one of my most favorite programs on all of Television. It airs locally on Wednesday’s and I never miss it! Even my wife doesn’t bother when it’s on. That’s saying a lot!
One reason why more and more people are calling this generation one of the most ignorant of all time is the proliferation of so many idiot conspiracy theories along with the eager to believe morons who believe them even though there is little compelling evidence to do so.
we r all going 2 die!!! well eventually, our bodies were created to do so, by flu, by accident, by the great mysterious creator(s). yes yes the government is in control, they want all the power and less people(slaves) to take care of with their hard earned power and money. So if you are having trouble accepting all that is happening, just stay home, work from your computer(or don’t), grow your own food(no more grocery store), create your own drinkable water, only mingle with others like you(close family) and enjoy. just stop complaining, everyone lost this battle the day that we decided to be unhappy with our responsibility to the lands
u can have it all, anything u want you can make it yours, anything u want in the world anything you want in the world ~ g’day all
Where can I find the transcript for this episode (KIller Flu)?
The flu killing people was just another symbol of us dying they say its easier to get rid of the flu as a teenager than it is for an adult and younger people the flu is a virus that may be easily spread and most people are not cleanliness and may even spread germs during coughing and not keeping the body and hand clean, that’s another reason why so many people may have died in 1918.
the h1n1 was very popular just as this case.its juat that the h1n1 has not killed so many people as this one
Wow i didnt think that the bird flu was that serious i understand that it waz bad
but killing millionz of soldiers realy gives yu somthing to think about so yea this video
should be modivation to get flu shots!!!!
One reason why more and more people are calling this generation one of the most ignorant of all time is the proliferation of so many idiot conspiracy theories along with the eager to believe morons who believe them even though there is little compelling evidence to do so.
I read the Great Infuenza by John M. Barry years ago. And I have read any book I could get ahold of from the library for the last ten years- probably because I found out my great aunt- which lived her old age with us till she died in the late 70’s- was a nurse at Walter Reed in Baltimore during the first war ( dealing with this mysterious disease at the time). The point being, this is the first aspect of the beginnings of the influenza that is different then what I have already read. I congraduate PBS for presenting documentation of scientists on the cutting edge of historical documentation of biological evolution. Thank you from a high school science teacher
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Luckily someone found out the cause of the virus. Thankfully it isn’t a big problem in this century. It’s way worse than any other type of flu because it killed up to 40 million people.
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Jake,
gotcha. i still kinda disagree…The Big 12 is not going anywhere, its not getting wrecked, and A&M officials were very cognizant not to do this in a way that would destroy the B12. they knew that would be a huge public perception problem, and there was a big reason that exact verbage was in Loftin’s statements a couple weeks ago.
Love this show! My science students watch it every year.