Reminder that the most deadly pathogen in human history, the Spanish flu, was leaked from a human lab in the 1970s. It had previously been wiped out. Now you know it as influenza A subtype H1N1, an endemic disease in humans.https://twitter.com/diviacaroline/status/1252813408769990656 …
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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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very offline potat Retweeted Nurit Baytch
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 …
very offline potat added,
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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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