Johan hultin kiruna
Transmission electron microscope TEM image of the reconstructed pandemic influenza virus.
The Virus Hunter, Johan Hultin: Into the Wild. Twice. For
For decades, the virus was lost to history. As the pandemic occurred during an era when the understanding of infectious pathogens and tools to study them were still in their infancy, discovering why the virus was so lethal seemed impossible. Driven to discover more about the virus, an expert group of researchers and virus hunters searched for the lost virus, sequenced its genome, and recreated the virus in a highly safe and regulated laboratory setting at CDC.
In Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, Dr. Ann Reid, and other scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology were able to successfully sequence the virus genome from preserved lung tissue of victims. In , Dr. Johan Hultin, then a young microbiologist, was granted permission to exhume a mass grave in Brevig Mission, Alaska, where 72 of 80 Inupiaq adult residents died during the pandemic.
He obtained frozen lung tissue samples but was unable to grow virus from those samples.
Villager's remains lead to 1918 flu breakthrough
Decades later, after learning of Dr. He was successful, and was able to obtain samples. From the samples collected from Brevig Mission, along with samples from other victims of the pandemic, scientists were able to sequence the virus genome. Your browser does not support the video tag. Department of Health and Human Services, Senior government officials selected CDC headquarters in Atlanta as the location for the reconstruction to take place.
As part of security and safety considerations, only one person was granted permission, laboratory access, and the responsibility of reconstructing the virus: microbiologist Dr. Terrence Tumpey.
The Deadliest Flu: The Complete Story of the Discovery and
In , Tumpey was able to reconstruct the complete virus. Several experiments to understand the ability of that virus to cause harm were conducted. Studies showed the virus was able to replicate itself and cause severe damage to lung tissue in a short amount of time.
Four days after infection, the amount of virus found in the lung tissue of infected mice was 39, times higher than that produced by one of the comparison recombinant flu viruses. When the HA gene of the virus was swapped with that of a contemporary human seasonal influenza A H1N1 flu virus and combined with the remaining seven genes of the virus, the resulting recombinant virus notably did not kill infected mice and did not result in significant weight loss a marker of severe infection in mice.
The study of the virus helped and continues to help CDC prepare for future pandemics.
An Alaskan Village Holds the Key to Understanding the 1918 Spanish Flu
TEM images of the reconstructed pandemic influenza virions budding form a cell, Tumpey oversees laboratory work that advances the scientific understanding of flu viruses, particularly work that helps in understanding virus and host factors that can impact virulence and transmission. His groundbreaking work in to physically reconstruct the virus using reverse genetics furthered the scientific understanding of the properties that contributed to the virulence of the virus.
Home Ebola Exhibit Influenza Exhibit. Reconstructing the Pandemic Virus Transmission electron microscope TEM image of the reconstructed pandemic influenza virus. Photograph by James Gathany. David J.