Swine Flu 'Again"!
Today a report from the NIAID states that animal flu could lead to a pandemic in the US! They are concerned about swine flu. Are there no epidemiologists at NIAID? Didn't they go back and look at the non event from Fort Devons about 'Swine Flu' in the early 1980s when a sudden rush to immunize all adults against a pandemic caused more side affects (Guillain-Barre syndrome) than the 'flu'. At the time, Don Merchant (Chair of Microbiology at EVMS) and I performed a sample survey of the bloods of abbatoir workers in the SE Virginia Hog Industry. We found that nearly all the abbattoir workers had antibodies against swine flu. None of them remembered any significant respiratory diseases. We told the National Committee that we did not believe this was a hazard. Our prognostication was correct.