Swiss genome of the 1918 influenza virus reconstructed

Medical Express Researchers from the universities of Basel and Zurich have used a historical specimen from UZH’s Medical Collection to decode the genome of the virus responsible for the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic in Switzerland. The genetic material of the virus reveals that it had already developed key adaptations to humans at the outset of what became the deadliest influenza pandemic in history. New viral epidemics pose a major challenge to public health and society. Understanding how viruses evolve and learning from past pandemics are crucial for developing targeted countermeasures. The so-called Spanish flu of 1918–1920 was one of the most devastating pandemics in history, claiming some 20 to 100 million lives worldwide. And yet, until now, little has been known about how that influenza virus mutated and adapted over the course of the pandemic.