Pros And Cons Of 1918 Pandemic

The 1918 influenza pandemic had a significant impact across the globe due to its unusual virulence and ability to affect healthy adults, influencing its high death toll. Recreating the 1918 pandemic virus poses pros and cons that are increasingly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased public scrutiny of ‘gain-of-function’ research. Essentially, any information is beneficial in the ‘right hands’ but can be dangerous in the ‘wrong hands.’ Sequencing the 1918 virus provided insights into its emergence and genetic features contributing to its exceptional virulence that drove the pandemic’s impact. However, researchers noted that sequencing was insufficient to explain the virulence. Reconstruction of the virus allowed

Additionally, differences from other human flu viruses in all genome segments provided strong evidence for an avian origin rather than human and avian virus reassortment. The identification of mutations facilitating the species jump in the reconstructed 1918 virus is critical for surveillance of potential pandemic bird viruses, which has already been validated by the presence of such mutations in H7N7 which was able to infect humans. The discovery of accessory protein PA-X's role in modulating the host immune response and pathogenesis was also enabled by reconstructed virus, contributing to the understanding of influenza biology and potential antiviral targets. Sequence information is not sufficient to analyze the impact of treatment strategies. Therefore, modern prophylactic and therapeutic strategies could be tested against the recreated virus to inform their effectiveness against future strains with similar virulence and pathogenic features. Reconstructing the 1918 virus was beneficial in identifying the genetic characteristics of its virulence and factors affecting its pathogenicity as well as identifying effective drugs and