Experts hope 1918 virus sheds light on pandemics

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Terrence Tumpey stepped into the laboratory and glanced at the dead mice. Suddenly it hit him — the significance of what scientists were attempting.

A few days earlier, Tumpey had infected the mice with genes from the 1918 influenza virus. The virus killed 40 million to 50 million people in the worst infectious disease outbreak in recorded history, then vanished.

For years, scientists had attempted to decipher the virus' genetic code from snippets of lung tissue preserved from flu victims.

At this point in 2001, they had identified two of the virus' eight genes and wanted to test the effect on mice. There was no mistaking the result.

"It brought a chill down my spine because I knew that I had this deadly virus," said Tumpey, a research scientist for the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I didn't have the whole thing, but I knew I had parts of it."

In October, Tumpey and a team led by Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology announced they had achieved a remarkable feat. Not only did they discover the virus' entire genetic code, they brought it back to life in a tightly controlled laboratory at CDC offices in Atlanta.

The virus that had swept the globe, infecting more than one-fourth of the world's population, existed on earth once again.

Scientists hope to use the virus to discover how to prevent new pandemics, or at least lessen their devastation.

In the best-case scenario, the scientific advances would come in time to help fight the avian influenza now spreading through Asia and parts of Europe.

Scientists worry that if the avian influenza mutates so that it is easily transmissable among humans, it could rival the 1918 virus in its deadliness.

Researchers say they already have some initial insights about why the 1918 flu spread so rapidly and what made it so deadly, although more work remains.

While lauding the researchers' goals, critics question the wisdom of reviving the virus. They fear it could be accidentally or deliberately let loose into the population.

"That can come about if a disgruntled or disturbed laboratory worker releases it," said Richard Ebright, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University.