Questioning the Salicylates and Influenza Pandemic Mortality Hypothesis in 1918–1919

Salicylates and pandemic influenza mortality, 1918-1919 pharmacology, pathology, and historic evidence.

The high case-fatality rate--especially among young adults--during the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic is incompletely understood. Although late deaths showed bacterial pneumonia, early deaths exhibited extremely "wet," sometimes hemorrhagic lungs. The hypothesis presented herein is that aspirin contributed to the incidence and severity of viral pathology, bacterial infection, and death, because p...

mortality from pandemic influenza a (h1n1) in iran

Age-specific mortality risk from pandemic influenza.

Younger age groups account for proportionally more mortality in influenza pandemics than in seasonal influenza epidemics. Mechanisms that might explain this include young people suffering from an over-reactive immune system ("cytokine storm"), older people benefiting from cross-immunity from a wider variety of previous influenza infections ("antigenic history"), and lifetime immune responses in...

Questioning the social intelligence hypothesis.

The social intelligence hypothesis posits that complex cognition and enlarged "executive brains" evolved in response to challenges that are associated with social complexity. This hypothesis has been well supported, but some recent data are inconsistent with its predictions. It is becoming increasingly clear that multiple selective agents, and non-selective constraints, must have acted to shape...

Mortality burden of the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic in Europe

BACKGROUND The origin and estimated death toll of the 1918-1919 epidemic are still debated. Europe, one of the candidate sites for pandemic emergence, has detailed pandemic mortality information. OBJECTIVE To determine the mortality impact of the 1918 pandemic in 14 European countries, accounting for approximately three-quarters of the European population (250 million in 1918). METHODS We a...