US Dodged A Bird Flu Pandemic In 1957 Thanks To Eggs And Dumb Luck – With A New Strain Spreading Fast, Will Americans Get Lucky A?
Inoculating eggs with live virus was the first step to producing a vaccine. AP Photo BY ALEXANDRA M. LORD CHAIR AND CURATOR OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION In recent months, Americans looking for eggs have faced empty shelves in their grocery stores. The escalating threat of avian flu has forced farmers to kill millions of chickens to prevent its spread. Nearly 70 years ago, Maurice Hilleman , an expert in influenza, also worried about finding eggs. Hilleman, however, needed eggs not for his breakfast, but to make the vaccines that were key to stopping a potential influenza pandemic. Hilleman was born a year after the notorious 1918 influenza pandemic swept the world, killing 20 million to 100 million people . By 1957, when Hilleman began worrying about the egg supply, scientists had a significantly more sophisticated understanding of influenza than they had previously. This knowledge led them to fear that a pandemic similar to that of 1918 could easily erupt, k...