Excavated Avian flu molecules explicate 1918-19 pandemic.(News From The Lab)

No firm figures exist for the total number of influenza victims who died in the worldwide pandemic of 1918-1919. At best they are measured as "many millions." A brief commentary in The Lancet (Jan. 24, 2004) bears the foreboding headline "Avian influenza: The threat looms." That editorial leads off, "Five human deaths have been reported in Vietnam up to Jan. 20, 2004. The disease," it explained, "is caused by influenza virus Type A and infects many animal species. A highly pathogenic avian influenza," the editorial continues, "is caused by subtypes H5 and H7. [H is the hemagglutinin protein on the virus surface.] Wild birds are thought to be the reservoir for the virus, which infects …