INITIAL GENETIC-CHARACTERIZATION OF THE 1918 SPANISH INFLUENZA-VIRUS

The ''Spanish'' influenza pandemic killed at least 20 million people i n 1918-1919, making it the worst infectious pandemic in history. Under standing the origins of the 1918 virus and the basis for its exception al virulence may aid in the prediction of future influenza pandemics. RNA from a victim of the 1918 pandemic was isolated from a formalin-fi xed, paraffin-embedded, lung tissue sample. Nine fragments of viral RN A were sequenced from the coding regions of hemagglutinin, neuraminida se, nucleoprotein, matrix protein 1, and matrix protein 2. The sequenc es are consistent with a novel H1N1 influenza A virus that belongs to the subgroup of strains that infect humans and swine, not the avian su bgroup.