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Bulletin No. 22 - Summer 2005
MiscelleanousHistory
OXFORD JS, LAMBKIN R, SEFTON A, DANIELS R, ELLIOT A, BROWN R, GILL D
A hypothesis: the conjunction of soldiers, gas, pigs, ducks, geese and horses in Northern France during the Great War provided the conditions for the emergence of the "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.
Vaccine, 2005, Volume 23, N°7, 940-945
The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed over 50 million people worldwide within 18 months. The focus of origin is likely to be the military camp established at Etaples (France) in the winter of 1917. Indeed, all factors known to contribute to the emergence of pandemic influenza were concentrated in a small area: overcrowding and continual movement of troops, respiratory distress due to the high amount of irritant gases (some of them mutagenic) used for fighting, pigs as mixing vessels, ducks geese and chicken as sources of avian influenza viruses and subsequently a high number of soldiers from all countries who returned home and triggered the spread of the virus. Such a combination of factors should always be kept in mind as a warning element for potential emergence of a new influenza pandemic worldwide.
