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had first seen in tuberculosis. Such fungal-like forms are 1918, where young healthy soldiers were suddenly the hallmark of the mycobacteria (their prefix "myco" decimated by disease. Wiltschur continued: "Cyanosis means "fungal"). Mycobacteria such as tuberculosis are of the face and extremities was a frequent occurrence.” particularly deadly precisely because they share Patients exhibited severe difficulty in breathing properties of the fungi as well as bacteria. (dyspnoea), an extremely high temperature no More recently, in 1999, Fredj Tekaia, of the Pasteur characteristic of the flu, pulmonary haemorrhages and a Institute, Paris, and colleagues, looking for "overall gene __ rapid progression of lung disease, "with death occurring similarities as signatures of common ancestry", found in many instances unexpectedly and suddenly". similar genetic profiles and sequencing for Pfeiffer's Why these findings, including the well-known rapid bacillus (Mycobacterium influenzae) and Mycobacterium fatality of "galloping consumption" with its high fever, tuberculosis, lumping them together in the same "well- — profuse haemorrhaging, brownish spots or splotches on defined group’ Tekaia's diagrammatic genomic tree _ the face, strawberry tongue and typhoid-like symptoms, shows the two organisms directly next to one another. documented so clearly in and after the pandemic o! This reopened the historical argument that Pfeiffer's 1890, were ignored by the historians, scientists and bacillus and tuberculosis are related. practitioners of 1918 is beyond comprehension. In 1933, the very year that Smith, Andrewes and Historian/researcher René Dubos, of the then-named Laidlaw claimed stake to the discovery of the human Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, would later influenza "virus", Stobie, in the British Medical Journal, still confirm the galloping acceleration between influenza and tuberculosis in the laboratory.* Dubos also assured us tha “galloping consumption" was not an isolated, but a frequent diagnosis in the 19th century’ Despite persistent myths to the contrary, in the early phase of any new TB epidemic, perhaps from a new acknowledged that, rather than being a virus, the real nature of "influenza" could well be a form of Mycobacterium Why these findings... tuberculosis.© Stobie simply in and after the pandemic of reflected the active, vigorous, yet historically suppressed 1890, were ignored by the debate that had been raging in . : . . medical journals for decades. historians, scientists and He mentions cases of practitioners of 1918 is strain, tuberculosis manifests tuberculosis following : itself as an acute disease and influenza which together beyond comprehension. only much later as the chronic exhibited "a sinister type of pulmonary tuberculosis that disease which rarely we know in today's western responded to treatment". Enter world. An example can be "galloping consumption", the most devastating form of _ found in the high mortality during the 1918 "influenza" tuberculosis, then called "consumption". pandemic, when African Americans were brought to fight in France during World War I, large numbers of them Obuchow Hospital, St Petersburg, Russia, 1890 dying from the accelerated tubercular “galloping n 1890, a fierce "influenza" pandemic struck consumption" of yesteryear. But was it only this specific worldwide, killing approximately a million people. group that was affected circa 1918? There has been Occurring at the end of the 19th century, this second much documentation that in certain cases, depending most severe influenza ever to hit the world occurred ata —_ on the virulence of the tubercular strain, the infection time when there was fear that tuberculosis would can spread rapidly, causing a disease both acute and destroy the civilisation of Europe. fatal, with signs and symptoms so unspecific that a Twenty- eight years later, those who survived that — proper diagnosis is impossible to make. liven ta awe an tha Qeant Dandamin af Why these findings... in and after the pandemic of 1890, were ignored by the historians, scientists and practitioners of 1918 is beyond comprehension. Obuchow Hospital, St Petersburg, Russia, 1890 In 1890, a fierce "influenza" pandemic struck worldwide, killing approximately a million people. Occurring at the end of the 19th century, this second most severe influenza ever to hit the world occurred at a time when there was fear that tuberculosis would destroy the civilisation of Europe. Twenty-eight years later, those who survived tha pandemic and lived to experience the Great Pandemic o 1918-19 tended to be less susceptible to the disease. But the lessons of 1890 were poorly understood and therefore not carried over to 1918. Of all the forms of "influenza" known in 1890, none was more dreaded nor struck more terror into the hearts o victims and their families than that described by Wiltschur’ as "galloping consumption". An attending physician at the Obuchow Hospital, St Petersburg, Wiltschur tells what happened when_ influenza punctuated previous or active cases of tuberculosis: "The [influenza] patients were, for the most part, still well nourished.” This mirrored the swine flu episode of College of Medicine and Surgery, Philippines, 1919 At the beginning of January 1920, an important study” appeared in The Rockefeller Institute's Journal of Experimental Medicine. Physician Herbert Windsor Wade, an American investigator working out of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and Surgery, doubted that a virus had anything to do with influenza. And Wade, working with Filipino national Dr Cristobal Manalang, proved this in 1919 in their university laboratory. Richard Pfeiffer still insisted that his organism "had the best claim to serious consideration as the primary 18 *« NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 20I1 www.nexusmagazine.com