clipped from: www.pittsburghlive.com Sick pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa and scientists' accidental release of an "extinct" flu virus in 1977 played key roles in creating a strain that has swept the globe and sparked fear of a more deadly flu season this winter.
University of Pittsburgh infectious disease experts reviewed nearly a century of epidemiology reports to trace the origins of swine flu, the H1N1 virus, that emerged in Mexico this spring. It has sickened at least 27,000 people and killed more than 100 in the United States.
"Our review is the perfect combination of history, public health, science and politics, really," said Dr. Shanta Zimmer, an assistant professor at Pitt's School of Medicine and lead author of the research paper, which will be published in the July 16 issue of New England Journal of Medicine.