We don't know which lab it leaked from, no one would admit to it. But probably a lab in Russia or China. How do we know it came from a lab? It was nearly genetically identical to preserved specimens from 1918. It had not mutated like it had been around for decades.
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Source: this very excellent lecture on the origins of the spanish flu pandemic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Klc3DPdtk … Highly recommend
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To be completely clear on this: the 1918 spanish flu was the introduction of H1N1 into humans. H1N1 was wiped out by 1957. In 1977 it reemerged & matched 1950 strains of H1N1. Source w/ timestamp: https://youtu.be/48Klc3DPdtk?t=3842 …https://twitter.com/NuritBaytch/status/1252843520353660929 …
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Any errors in this thread were my own, except my source did call the spanish flu / H1N1 "the worst pathogen in human history" at one point. This is perhaps an overstatement, but "worst in the 20th century" or "one of the worst in human history" does seem fair.
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Anyway, point is: accidental releases of deadly pathogen from research labs - more likely than you think.
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You think Spanish flu was deadlier than plague?
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I was thinking about that when I tweeted, but I was quoting the lecturer in the youtube link. Plague probably wins on % terms, but spanish flu probably wins on raw numbers. (I say before looking up the stats)
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it was a 1950 strain that leaked from a lab in 1977, not the Spanish Flu: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMra0904322 …pic.twitter.com/7sMBqmNqT0
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Ah, good catch. I misrembered the vid I bet. I'm sure my source had it right.
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Spanish Flu isnt anywhere near the most deadly pathogen in history. Smallpox (which arguably is) *also* leaked from a lab though.
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