Access

Brief Communications Arising

Nature 440, E9-E10 (27 April 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature04825; Published online 26 April 2006

Molecular virology: Was the 1918 pandemic caused by a bird flu? Was the 1918 flu avian in origin? (Reply)

Jeffery K. Taubenberger1, Ann H. Reid1,2, Raina M. Lourens1,3, Ruixue Wang1, Guozhong Jin1 & Thomas G. Fanning1

Top

We have proposed that the virus responsible for the 1918 human influenza pandemic was avian-like, which to us is a reasonable interpretation of all the available data from phylogenetic, sequence, serological and historical analysis, combined with what is known of influenza A virus biology1, 2, 3, 4. However, Gibbs and Gibbs5 and Antonovics et al.6 question our inferred origin of the 1918 influenza virus.

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The 1918 'Spanish' flu: pearls from swine?

Nature Medicine News and Views (01 Apr 1999)

New clues to the emergence of flu pandemics

Nature Medicine News and Views (01 Oct 1998)

See all 4 matches for News And Views