1977 Russian flu

The 1977 Russian flu was an influenza pandemic that was first reported by the Soviet Union in 1977 and lasted until 1979.[1][2] The outbreak in northern China started in May 1977, slightly earlier than that in the Soviet Union.[3][4] The pandemic mostly affected population younger than 25 or 26 years of age,[1][5][6] and resulted in approximately 700,000 deaths worldwide.[7][8][9] It was caused by an H1N1 flu strain which highly resembled a virus strain circulating worldwide from 1946 to 1957.[1][2][5][6] Genetic analysis and several unusual characteristics of the 1977 Russian flu have prompted many researchers to speculate that the virus was released to the public through a laboratory accident.[4][5][10][11][12][13]

Influenza (Flu)
Types
Vaccines
Treatment
Pandemics
Outbreaks
See also

History of outbreak

In May 1977, an outbreak of flu took place in northern China including Liaoning, Jilin and Tianjin.[3][5][14][15] The strain was isolated and determined by Chinese researchers to be H1N1, which mostly affected students in middle and primary schools who lacked immunity to H1N1 virus.[3] Clinical symptoms were relatively mild.[3] Other areas in mainland China and British Hong Kong were also affected in the following months.[3][11]

In the same year, the H1N1 strain was detected in Siberia shortly after the outbreak in China, and then spread rapidly across the Soviet Union, which was the first country to report the outbreak to the World Health Organization (the People's Republic of China was not a member of WHO until 1981[16]).[1][4][5][6] Therefore, the pandemic was named "Russian flu".[17]

In 1977, the Russian flu hit the United Kingdom.[18] The virus reached the United States in January 1978.[6][14] The first outbreak in the U.S was reported in a high school in Cheyenne, where the morbidity rate was more than 70% but involved solely students.[2][6] Even though infections were seen in schools and military bases throughout the U.S, there were few reports of infection in people older than 26, and the death rate in affected individuals was low.[2][6]

Since late 1977, the H1N1 strain has begun to co-circulate with the H3N2 strain in humans, as seasonal flu.[1][2][3][17]

Virology

After 1957, the H1N1 strain was not circulating around the world until its reappearance in 1977.[1][2][3][5] The 1977 strain was almost identical to (but not the same as) the strain in the 1950s.[1][2][4][5][6] Due to this fact, along with other unusual characteristics such as the flu largely affected the younger population, it is widely believed that the virus was leaked to the public in a laboratory accident (may have been kept frozen in some laboratory beforehand).[4][5][10][11][12][13][17][19] However, the World Health Organization as well as scientists in China and the Soviet Union had denied the theory of laboratory leak.[3][5][20][21]

Other origin theories such as deliberate release of the virus as a biological weapon by Soviet scientists or a vaccine trial also exist.[5][10][17][20][22] On the other hand, certain re-analysis of the H1N1 sequences indicates that the 1977 re-emergent lineage was circulating for approximately one year before detection.[23]

Mortality

The Russian flu was relatively benign, with an estimated influenza mortality rate (not the infection fatality rate or the case fatality rate) around 5 in every 100,000 population, less than that of the typical seasonal influenza (~6 in every 100,000 population).[5] Most of the infected people were under the age of 26 or 25.[1][5][6] It is estimated that 700,000 people died due to the Russian flu pandemic worldwide.[7][8][9] But some estimates the death toll to be as low as 10,000.[24]

See also

References
  1. "Influenza Pandemic Plan. The Role of WHO and Guidelines for National and Regional Planning" (PDF). World Health Organization. April 1999. pp. 38, 41. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-12-03.
  2. Mermel LA (June 2009). "Swine-origin influenza virus in young age groups". Lancet. 373 (9681): 2108–9. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61145-4. PMID 19541030. S2CID 27656702.
  3. Kung HC, Jen KF, Yuan WC, Tien SF, Chu CM (1978). "Influenza in China in 1977: recurrence of influenzavirus A subtype H1N1". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 56 (6): 913–8. PMC 2395678. PMID 310732.
  4. Wertheim JO (June 2010). "The re-emergence of H1N1 influenza virus in 1977: a cautionary tale for estimating divergence times using biologically unrealistic sampling dates". PLOS ONE. 5 (6): e11184. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011184. PMC 2887442. PMID 20567599.
  5. Rozo M, Gronvall GK (August 2015). "The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate". mBio. 6 (4). doi:10.1128/mBio.01013-15. PMC 4542197. PMID 26286690.
  6. Gregg MB, Hinman AR, Craven RB (November 1978). "The Russian flu. Its history and implications for this year's influenza season". JAMA. 240 (21): 2260–3. doi:10.1001/jama.240.21.2260. PMID 702749.
  7. Michaelis M, Doerr HW, Cinatl J (August 2009). "Novel swine-origin influenza A virus in humans: another pandemic knocking at the door". Medical Microbiology and Immunology. 198 (3): 175–83. doi:10.1007/s00430-009-0118-5. PMID 19543913. S2CID 20496301.
  8. Petrovski BÉ, Lumi X, Znaor L, Ivastinović D, Confalonieri F, Petrovič MG, Petrovski G (July 2020). "Reorganize and survive-a recommendation for healthcare services affected by COVID-19-the ophthalmology experience". Eye. 34 (7): 1177–1179. doi:10.1038/s41433-020-0871-7. PMC 7169374. PMID 32313170.
  9. "You're more likely to die from the H1N1 flu if you were born in 1957". University of Montreal. 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  10. Furmanski M (September 2015). "The 1977 H1N1 Influenza Virus Reemergence Demonstrated Gain-of-Function Hazards". mBio. 6 (5): e01434-15. doi:10.1128/mBio.01434-15. PMC 4611044. PMID 26419881.
  11. Zimmer SM, Burke DS (July 2009). "Historical perspective--Emergence of influenza A (H1N1) viruses". The New England Journal of Medicine. 361 (3): 279–85. doi:10.1056/NEJMra0904322. PMID 19564632.
  12. Horimoto T, Kawaoka Y (August 2005). "Influenza: lessons from past pandemics, warnings from current incidents". Nature Reviews. Microbiology. 3 (8): 591–600. doi:10.1038/nrmicro1208. PMID 16064053. S2CID 30154845.
  13. Nolan, Tom (2009-07-02). "Was H1N1 leaked from a laboratory?". The BMJ. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  14. Colen BD (1978-01-28). "Russian Flu Has Arrived In the U.S." Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  15. Brown D (2004-05-29). "SARS Cases in Asia Show Labs' Risks". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  16. "World Health Organization in China". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  17. "1977 Russian Influenza - an overview". ScienceDirect Topics. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  18. "The flu virus that nearly killed me". BBC News. 2013-01-25. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  19. "New Strain May Edge Out Seasonal Flu Bugs". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  20. "1977 H1N1 influenza virus is not relevant to the gain of function debate". Virology Blog. 2015-08-20.
  21. Furmanski M (2014-02-17). "Laboratory Escapes and "Self-fulfilling prophecy" Epidemics" (PDF). Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
  22. "Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic?". The Independent. 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  23. Wertheim JO (June 2010). "The re-emergence of H1N1 influenza virus in 1977: a cautionary tale for estimating divergence times using biologically unrealistic sampling dates". PLOS ONE. 5 (6): e11184. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011184. PMC 2887442. PMID 20567599.
  24. Reina, Jordi (2009). "Las pandemias de la gripe: lecciones aprendidas" (PDF). Rev Esp Quimioter (in Spanish). 22 (1): 2–4.
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