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Previous Volume 351:2550-2551 December 9, 2004 Number 24 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Over the past century, three influenza pandemics occurred because of the emergence of novel influenzaviruses to which little or no immunity existed. In 1918 and 1919, the "Spanish" influenza pandemic killed more than 20 million people, with many of the deaths due to an unusually severe, hemorrhagic pneumonia. Now, Kobasa and colleagues¹ have used modern molecular methods to show that the hemagglutinin antigen from this strain (HA^sp) is a key determinant of virulence.

Using reverse genetics, Kobasa et al.¹ synthesized the HA^sp and neuraminidase (NA^sp) genes on the basis of the genetic sequences of the 1918–1919 influenza² . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Division of Infectious Disease and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine and Molecular Microbiology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis.

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