Show Date: May 3, 2006 
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Feeling Sick Yet?

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond. Join us each week on Newstalk K57 on Wednesday night from 7 to 8 p.m. for exciting live science expeditions or listen live on our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com

I recently attended a meeting on the dangers posed by a well-known killer. No, it’s not pollution or global warming or even killer whales. It’s an ancient terror and it’s been around a long time. And it’s something that could definitely be more personal, more immediate and more dangerous to our island, your family and you personally than virtually any other danger you face. It’s influenza, commonly known as the ‘flu’.

Most of us have had what we thought was the flu. But if you went to work with ‘the flu’ you probably didn’t have influenza. Real ‘flu’ is usually a lot more severe than a runny nose or sore throat. It has been said that if you really have influenza, for the first three days you’re afraid you’ll die and for the next three days, you’re afraid you won’t. They’re not kidding; I’ve had flu twice and both times were deeply unpleasant experiences. Humans aren’t the only ones that get the flu. Domestic and wild animals are also susceptible to their very own influenzas. Animal or human, if you have a strain of influenza, you are immune to that strain for the rest of your life but influenza is caused by viruses and viruses are notorious for their mutation rates.

Influenza occurs in two forms; the ‘yearly flu’ for which many of us receive vaccinations, and something altogether more sinister. Occasionally (about three times a century), a strain of flu that normally infects only animals mutates and begins to infect humans. When that happens, a new strain of human flu is born and most humans have no natural immunity to it. These influenzas become ‘pandemics’ and they spread all over the world.

There were three human pandemic influenzas in the 20th century; the last in 1968. I had the flu that caused the pandemic in 1957 and the first one of the century in 1918-1919 killed at least 40 million people in six months. Twenty to thirty percent of the people who were exposed to it contracted the disease and roughly 3 percent of them died. The death rate here on Guam was around 6 percent of the population.

Influenza usually kills the young and the old because any flu virus kills about 30% of your body cells. If you’re small and your organs aren’t as developed as an adult’s or if you’re old and your organs are weakened by age, losing 30% of your cells can be fatal. But the 1918 pandemic was notorious because it killed adults in the prime of life. And it killed very rapidly; there were cases where people awoke healthy and were dead by nightfall. This was a ‘new flu’ and it triggered a massive response of the healthy immune system. The virus lodged deep in the lungs and ruptured cells causing vast amounts of fluid to pour into the lungs. People literally drowned in their own body fluids.

We are now poised on the knife-edge of a new pandemic. A strain of bird flu has made the first mutation, which allows it to spread to humans. A second mutation is needed before a pandemic occurs; the one that allows the influenza to spread from person to person.

Is the world prepared for the next influenza pandemic? And a more important question is; is Guam prepared? I learned at the conference that Guam is probably better prepared than most places, but there is still much to learn and do. Join us this week as we discuss an ancient killer.

The Deep is broadcast on Newstalk K57 every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can also listen live from our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com. Join Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick, and Peter Melyan on the deepest radio show on Earth.