Timeline: World History of Viral Pandemics: 412BC to 2009

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Timeline: World History of Viral Pandemics: 412BC to 2009

When observing the swine flu outbreak happening today, it's helpful to have some historical context. Viral pandemics are not unusual, and talking about one isn't "alarmist." Pandemics are a regular feature of life on earth, and they occur with surprising regularity throughout world history.

Wherever there are masses of people, there are opportunities for viruses to spread. It is especially important to note that even with all of today's "advanced" medical technology (which really isn't that advanced in many ways), today's swine flu virus eluded all the world's infectious disease authorities, spreading to more than seven different countries before it even appeared on the CDC's radar. Modern technology, it turns out, is no more effective at halting the spread of swine flu than having no technology at all.


Here's a timeline of all the larger pandemics recorded throughout human history.

412 BC – Major epidemic of a disease (which, although not called influenza, probably was influenza) recorded by Hippocrates.

1357 AD – The term, "influenza," from the Italian word meaning "influence," was coined. Popular belief at that time blamed the development of flu on the influence of the stars.

1485 – "Sweating sickness," a flu-like malady, sickens hundreds of thousands of people in Britain. The Lord Mayor of London, his successor and six aldermen die. The Royal Navy cannot leave port due to the sickness of sailors. Doctors prescribe tobacco juice, lime juice, emetics, cathartics and bleeding as treatments for the disease.

1580 – First recorded influenza pandemic begins in Europe and spreads to Asia and Africa.

1700s – Influenza pandemics in 1729-1730, 1732-1733, 1781-1782.

1781 – Major epidemic causing high mortality among the elderly spreads across Russia from Asia.

1830 – Major epidemic causing high mortality among the elderly spreads across Russia from Asia.

1831, 1833-1834 – Influenza pandemics hit.

1847-1848 – Influenza sweeps through the Mediterranean to southern France and then continues across in Western Europe.

1878 – A disease causing high mortality in poultry becomes known as the "fowl plague." Fowl plague is now called HPAI avian influenza.

1889-1890 – The "Russian flu" spreads through Europe and reaches North America in 1890.

1900 – Major epidemic.

1918-1919 – The "Spanish Flu" circles the globe (though some experts think it may have started in the U.S.). Caused by an H1N1 flu virus, it is the worst influenza pandemic (and subsequently, epidemic) to date. There are more than half a million U.S. deaths; worldwide death estimates range from 20 million to 100 million. According to WebMD, "The pandemic comes before the era of antibiotics -- which are now essential in treating the secondary bacterial infections that often kill flu-weakened patients -- so it's difficult to say whether this flu would have the same dreadful impact in the modern world. But it is a very frightening disease, with very high death rates among young, previously healthy adults."

1924 – The first outbreak of HPAI avian influenza -- bird flu -- in the U.S. It does not spread among humans.

Late 1920s – Richard Shope shows that swine influenza can be transmitted through filtered mucous, implying that influenza is caused by a virus.

1933 – Sir Christopher Andrewes, Wilson Smith and Sir Patrick Laidlaw isolate the first human influenza virus.

1940 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet grows influenza on a laboratory growth system (embryonated chicken eggs).

1941 – George K. Hirst discovers that influenza causes hemagglutination of red blood cells, thus providing a new method of assaying for the virus

1955 – Sir Christopher Andrewes, along with Burnet and Bang, coins the term "myxovirus" for the influenza family.

1957-1958 – The "Asian Flu" causes the second pandemic of the 20th century. Caused by an H2N2 virus, it begins in China and kills one million people worldwide, including 70,000 Americans.

1968-1969 – The "Hong Kong Flu" causes the last flu pandemic. It was caused by an H3N2 virus and killed some 34,000 Americans. The relatively low death toll is thought to have been due to two factors. First, the virus contained the N2 protein humans had been exposed to before. Second, an H3 virus circulated around the turn of the century, giving some immune protection to elderly people who had caught the flu back then.

Mid-1970s – Researchers realize that enormous pools of influenza virus continuously circulate in wild birds.

1976 – Swine flu breaks out among a handful of soldiers stationed at Fort Dix, N.J. One dies. It's an H1N1 virus, and health officials worry that they are seeing the return of the 1918 H1N1 Spanish Flu pandemic. As the virus is circulating among U.S. pigs, President Gerald Ford calls for a crash vaccination program. Despite delays, a vaccine is made and a quarter of the U.S. population is inoculated. There were 25 deaths from a rare paralytic complication of the vaccination (Guillain-Barre syndrome). Nobody else died of swine flu, which never caused an epidemic.

1977 – Mild Russian influenza epidemic occurs.

1983 – The second HPAI outbreak occurs in the U.S. Caused by an H5N2 virus, it does not spread among humans. However, this severe poultry epidemic strikes chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is finally brought under control after the destruction of 17 million birds.

1988 – Wiley, Wilson and Skehel determine the location of the antigenic sites on the hemagglutinin molecule by X-ray crystallography.

1996 – HPAI H5N1 bird flu is isolated from a farmed goose in Guangdong, China.

May 1997 – The first person known to catch H5N1 bird flu dies in Hong Kong. The virus has been causing an epidemic among poultry in the city.

November-December 1997 – There are 18 new human cases of H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong, 12 with direct contact with infected poultry. Six people die. Officials destroy 1.4 million chickens and ducks.

Jan. 5, 2003 – Health authorities in Vietnam inform the WHO office in Hanoi of an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in 11 previously healthy children hospitalized in Hanoi, with the most recent hospital admission on Jan. 4. Seven cases were fatal and two patients remain critically ill. A 12th case, a sibling of one of the Hanoi cases, died of a respiratory illness in a provincial hospital.

•Included in this report are six children, aged 9 months to 12 years, who died in a Hanoi hospital of respiratory illness of unidentified cause between Oct. 31 and Dec. 30, 2003. For the first five cases, no samples are available for analysis. Samples are available for the 6th case, a 12 year-old girl who was admitted to hospital on Dec. 27 and died three days later. All of these cases were identified retrospectively based on hospital records.

•It is not known whether all cases were caused by the same pathogen. The pathogen is unknown, but thought to be an influenza virus or an adenovirus. Arrangements are made for testing.

•WHO assistance in responding to the outbreak is requested. WHO headquarters and the regional office in Manila are alerted.


Jan. 6, 2003 – A member of the press informs the WHO office in Hanoi of rumored chicken deaths in southern Vietnam. The regional office in Manila is alerted.

Jan. 7, 2003 – WHO informs public health officials worldwide through its electronically distributed Outbreak Verification List.

Jan. 8, 2003 – Authorities in Vietnam report outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5 subtype (later confirmed as the H5N1 strain), at farms in the southern provinces of Long An (two farms) and Tien Giang (one farm). Around 70,000 birds died or were destroyed. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country.

Jan. 11, 2003 – Since the Jan. 5 report, Vietnamese officials have identified two further cases of severe respiratory illness (another child and the first adult), bringing the total since the end of October in Hanoi's hospitals to 13.

•Tests on samples from two fatal cases in Vietnam (the 12-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy), performed by Hong Kong's National Influenza Centre, confirm infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus strain.

•WHO alerts its partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).


Jan. 12, 2003 – Hong Kong's National Influenza Centre confirms infection with H5N1 in a third fatal case in Vietnam, the 30-year-old mother of the 12-year-old girl.
•Vietnamese health authorities and WHO announce laboratory confirmation of the three cases of human infection with avian H5N1. Confirmation of these three cases marks the third time in recent years that the H5N1 strain has jumped from its avian host to infect humans. The previous human infections occurred in Hong Kong in 1997 (18 cases, six of which were fatal) and again in Hong Kong in February 2003 (two cases, one of which was fatal). The 1997 outbreak coincided with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Hong Kong's poultry farms and live markets. The two cases in 2003 had returned to Hong Kong following travel in southern China.

•Authorities in Japan report an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain, at a farm in Yamaguchi prefecture. This is the first report of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the country since 1925.


Jan. 13, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea announce the spread of H5N1 infection to an additional farm, dashing hopes that the epidemic had been brought under control. To date, about 1.6 million birds have died or been destroyed.
•Sequencing of virus from one of the fatal cases in Vietnam reveals that all genes are of avian origin.


Jan. 14, 2003 – WHO sends an urgent request for assistance to GOARN to identify experts to support the Vietnamese health authorities and the WHO office in Hanoi. Immediate objectives are to reduce the risk of transmission from birds to humans and to support health authorities in the epidemiological investigation and containment of human cases. Expertise is also requested to increase laboratory capacity, advise on hospital infection control and strengthen surveillance for human cases.

Jan. 15, 2003 – A fourth case of human infection with H5N1 is confirmed in Vietnam. All four cases, which had been hospitalized in Hanoi, were fatal.

Jan. 19, 2003 – A fifth fatal case of H5N1 infection is confirmed in Vietnam, also in Hanoi.
•A single peregrine falcon is found dead near a residential development in Hong Kong. Testing begins immediately. Two days later, H5N1 is confirmed in samples taken from the bird.

•WHO staff and a GOARN international team arrive in Vietnam. Members of the team are drawn from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA; the European Commission (DGAL – Ministère de l'agriculture, de l'alimentation, de la pêche et des affaires
rurales, France); European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) Network; Health Protection Agency, UK; Institut de Vielle Sanitaire, France; Institut Pasteur Network, France; Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI), Sweden; National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan; RIVM, the Netherlands, and the Robert Koch Institute, Germany.


Jan. 20, 2003 – Laboratories in the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network accelerate work needed to develop an H5N1 vaccine for humans.

Jan. 22, 2003 – Network laboratories determine that H5N1 viruses in the current human and avian outbreaks are significantly different from H5N1 viruses in outbreaks in Hong Kong in 1997 and 2003, indicating that the virus has mutated.

Jan. 23, 2003 – Authorities in Thailand report an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain, at a farm in Suphanburi Province. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country. Nearly 70,000 birds have died or been destroyed. Japan, the EU and other major export markets immediately ban all Thai poultry products.
•The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand informs WHO of two laboratory confirmed cases of H5N1 infection in humans. The cases, from Suphanburi and Kanchanburi provinces, are young boys. Both are alive.

•Influenza network laboratories report that human H5N1 viruses from Vietnam are resistant to one class of antiviral drugs, the M2 inhibitors amantadine and rimantadine.


Jan. 24, 2003 – Vietnam reports two more cases of H5N1 infection in children hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City – the first cases from the south. One child dies, and the second remains hospitalized in critical condition. The country has now reported seven cases, six of which were fatal.
•Vietnam reports that the H5N1 outbreak in poultry has spread to 23 of the country's 64 provinces. Nearly 3 million chickens have either died or been destroyed.

•Cambodia reports H5N1 in chickens in a farm near Phnom Penh.


Jan. 25, 2003 – WHO staff and a GOARN international team, with support from Health Canada, arrive in Thailand.

Jan. 26, 2003 – Authorities in Thailand report laboratory confirmation of the country's third case, also in a young child. One of the two previously confirmed cases dies.

Jan. 27, 2003 – Thailand's third case, reported on Jan. 26, dies. Of the three cases, one remains alive.
•Vietnam reports its eighth case. The child has fully recovered and been discharged from hospital.

•The Ministry of Health in China confirms the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in poultry at a duck farm in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the south.

•Laos reports poultry deaths at a farm near the capital city of Vientiane. The report states that 2,700 hens in a flock of 3,000 have died. Initial tests identify H5. Arrangements are made to test for H5N1.

•Cambodia reports positive influenza A results from geese at a farm near Phnom Penh.


Jan. 28, 2003 – Pakistan reports an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Testing detects the H7 subtype. The report states that 1.7 million hens have either died or been destroyed.

Jan. 30, 2003 – Chinese authorities confirm H5N1 infection in poultry at farms in an additional two provinces, Hunan and Hubei. Suspected outbreaks are reported in Anhui and Guangdong provinces and in Shanghai municipality.

Feb. 1, 2003 – Vietnam confirms two further cases, both fatal, in sisters, aged 23 and 30 years. Of the country's 10 cases, eight have died, one has recovered, and one remains hospitalized.

Feb. 2, 2003 – Thailand reports its fourth confirmed case of H5N1 infection in a 58-year-old woman from Suphanburi Province, who died on 27 January. Of the country's four cases, three have been fatal.
•Chinese authorities report that H5N1 infection is now confirmed or suspected in 10 of the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

•A WHO investigation of a family cluster in Thai Binh Province, Vietnam, fails to reveal a specific event, such as contact with sick poultry, or an environmental source, to explain these cases and concludes that limited human-to-human spread is one possible explanation.

•Indonesia reports an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry, subsequently confirmed as H5N1. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country.


Feb. 3, 2003 – Thailand's one surviving case, reported on Jan. 23, dies. To date, Thailand has reported four cases, all fatal.
•Vietnam reports an additional three cases, one fatal, all in young adults.

•Authorities in Vietnam report that 52 of the country's 64 provinces have been affected by H5N1 in poultry.

•Thai authorities estimate that around 26.9 million chickens have been culled nationwide, with slaughtering continuing in seven provinces. Altogether, 36 of the country's 76 provinces have been affected.

•Tests confirm that the poultry outbreaks in Indonesia are caused by H5N1. In 1995, highly pathogenic avian influenza was declared to be present throughout the country.


Feb. 4, 2003 – Chinese authorities report the spread of H5N1 infection in poultry to farms in two additional provinces.
•In Vientiane, Laos, 17 out of 18 farms (including one duck farm) test positive for the H5 subtype.


Feb. 5, 2003 – Vietnam reports two further cases, both fatal, in young adults.
•Thailand confirms the country's fifth case. The patient, a child, died on Feb. 2.

•In Thailand, 40 of the country's 76 provinces have reported H5N1 disease in poultry.

•The Republic of Korea confirms H5N1 infection at an additional two farms in Asan, south of Seoul, suggesting that the epidemic in birds is not fully under control.


Feb. 6, 2003 – A GOARN international team arrives in Cambodia. Members of the GOARN team are drawn from the Institut de Vielle Sanitaire, and the Institut Pasteur Network in France.
•China confirms further spread in poultry. Altogether, H5N1 infection is confirmed or suspected at farms in 13 of the country's 31 administrative districts.

•In Vietnam, 56 of the country's 64 provinces are now affected by H5N1 disease in poultry.

•As part of the investigation of possible human-to-human transmission in a family cluster in Vietnam, virus from one fatal confirmed case is fully sequenced. All genes are of avian origin. This finding does not, however, entirely rule out limited human-to-human transmission. If this occurred, the chain of transmission reached a dead end with the death or recovery of all family members in the cluster.


Feb. 8, 2003 – U.S. authorities report an outbreak of avian influenza at a farm in Delaware. H7 is detected in the initial tests. Further tests are initiated to determine if the H7 subtype is highly pathogenic. Some 12,000 birds are destroyed.
•OIE reports that half a million birds have been culled at nine farms in China where H5N1 infection has been confirmed.


Feb. 9, 2003 – Vietnam reports three additional cases, two of which were fatal.
•The total number of cases in the two affected countries, Vietnam and Thailand, is now 23 cases, of which 18 were fatal.

•In Vietnam, 57 of the country's 64 provinces have been affected by H5N1 in poultry. Around 27 million birds have died or been destroyed.


Feb. 10, 2003 – Chinese authorities report a suspected H5N1 outbreak at a chicken farm in Tianjin Municipality. Spread to additional farms within other provinces is also reported. Altogether, H5N1 infection is suspected or confirmed on 39 farms in 14 of the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Of the outbreaks at 39 farms, 19 are confirmed as caused by H5N1.
•Avian influenza is detected at a second farm in Delaware. Some 72,000 birds are destroyed. Japan, China, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore and the Republic of Korea ban poultry imports from the United States.


Feb. 11, 2003 – In the investigation of possible human-to-human transmission in Vietnam, results from the analysis of virus isolated from the second sister in the family cluster show that the virus is of avian origin and contains no human influenza genes. WHO issues guidelines for global surveillance aimed at monitoring spread of H5N1 infection in human and animal populations.
•The number of farms in China with confirmed H5N1 outbreaks increases from 19 to 23.


Feb. 12, 2003 – Thailand confirms its sixth case, a 13-year-old boy.
•Vietnam confirms its 19th case, which was fatal in a 19-year-old man who had been hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City.

•The total number of confirmed cases in these two countries combined is 25, of which 19 have been fatal.

•The first clinical and epidemiological data on 10 cases in the Vietnam outbreak is made public by WHO.


April 2003 – The Netherlands reports H7N7 bird flu in over 80 human cases with the death of one veterinarian.

Mid-2003 – H5N1 bird flu spreads in Asia, but it is either undetected or unreported.

Dec. 2003 – Tigers and leopards in a Thailand zoo die of H5N1 bird flu after eating fresh chickens. It's the first time bird flu has been seen in large felines.

Dec. 12, 2003 – The sudden death of chickens at a farm in Eumsung district, near the capital city of Seoul, prompts suspicions of an epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the Republic of Korea. Tests are initiated. Of the 24,000 chickens on the farm, 19,000 died between Dec.5 and Dec. 11. The remaining 5,000 were culled.

Dec. 17, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea formally report an epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain of the virus, at the chicken farm. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country. No symptoms are reported in farmers in close contact with the infected chickens.

Dec. 26, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea report the spread of H5N1 infection to chicken and duck farms in five provinces. Altogether, more than 1.3 million chickens and ducks have died or been destroyed.

Jan. 11, 2004 – Humans in Vietnam come down with H5N1 bird flu caught from poultry. There is a high death rate among infected people, but the disease does not spread from person to person.

Jan. 23, 2004 – Thailand reports human H5N1 bird flu infections.

February 2004 --The last HPAI outbreak among U.S. poultry occurs. A flock of chickens in Texas comes down with an H5N2 virus. A quick response by state and federal officials keeps the virus from spreading beyond this one small flock. There are no human cases.

Feb. 1, 2004 – Vietnam investigates a family cluster of H5N1 cases. Person-to-person spread cannot be ruled out, but the virus is not spreading among humans.

Feb. 20, 2004 – Thailand reports H5N1 infection of domestic cats in a single household.

Oct. 11, 2004 – H5N1 infection spreads among tigers in a Thai zoo.

Feb. 2, 2005 – Cambodia reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu. It is fatal.

April 30, 2005 – China reports that wild birds are dying at a lake in central China. The lake is a major stop along migratory pathways. Within weeks, more than 6,300 wild birds are dead.

July 21, 2005 – Indonesia reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu.

October 2005 – H5N1 is reported in poultry in Turkey and Romania and in wild birds in Greece and Croatia.

Nov. 1, 2005 – The WHO's official count of human cases of H5N1 reaches 122, with 62 deaths, in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Nov. 10, 2005 – China quarantines 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province after two new outbreaks of bird flu occur there.

Nov. 21, 2005 – After a duck from a poultry farm near Abbotsford, British Columbia is discovered to carry the low pathogenic H5 strain of bird flu, the United States places an interim ban on poultry exports from the Canadian province.

Nov. 23, 2005 – China announces its second human death related to the bird flu virus, a 35-year-old farmer identified only by her surname, Xu.

Nov. 28, 2005 – A 16-year-old Indonesian boy (the country's 12th human case of the disease) is said to be on the road to recovery.
•Chinese Ministry of Health announces that the H5N1 virus that caused China's human cases of bird flu was a mutated version of the strain found in Vietnam's human cases.


Nov. 29, 2005 – China reports two more flu outbreaks in the country's northwestern Xinjiang region and in the central Hunan province.
•Thailand Tamiflu manufacturer Roche announces that Thailand and the Philippines are not bound by patent restrictions, and may make their own versions of the drug.

•The Indonesian government begins random checks on birds in several areas, in concert with civilian tip-offs, to detect bird flu outbreaks early.

•The Russian Ministry of Agriculture announces that only two villages, one in the Kurgen region and one in the Astrakhan region, are still infected by bird flu.


Nov. 30, 2005 – Regulatory bodies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization (WHO) announce plans to meet early 2006 to discuss how to speed up production of a bird flu vaccine.
•The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warn that culling wild birds in urban areas in countries affected by bird flu will not help prevent a pandemic.

•The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vietnam announces it will only destroy poultry in infected areas, as well as cordon them off and disinfect the farms, rather than cull the country's entire poultry stock.

•The Thai News Agency reports that only one area in Thailand is still under close surveillance for a potential bird flu outbreak.

•Chinese Health Minister Gao Quiang says that the Chinese government is honestly reporting the country's bird flu situation, but concedes that doctors and hospitals in rural areas may not always be capable of diagnosing the disease.


Dec. 1, 2005 – Eight new cases of bird flu are reported in the remote village where the H5N1 virus was detected in October.
•A study by Dutch researchers demonstrates that bird flu vaccines are effective in preventing the transmission of the virus between birds, in addition to helping them survive the disease.

•China lifts the quarantine on the areas in northeastern Liaoning province that were affected by bird flu.

•India announces plans to create an emergency stockpile of one million doses of anti-flu drugs to combat the bird flu.


Dec. 2, 2005 – Abnormalities found in the X-rays of 14 Vietnamese bird flu patients mean the procedure can be used to predict whether the disease will be fatal.
•Indonesia calls for local governments to set up health posts in all villages in an attempt to create an early bird flu warning system to reach even the most remote corners of the country.

•China announces it will set up at least 300 monitoring stations across the country to form a long-term monitoring network that will help prevent a possible outbreak of wildlife diseases, including bird flu from migratory birds.

•The widespread sale of fake vaccines threatens to undermine China's plan to vaccinate 14 billion fowl.

•Some pneumonia patients in Vietnam inexplicably develop serious lung damage in a short space of time, raising fears that a new, more virulent strain of bird flu may have arrived in the country.

•A senior health official in Thailand reports that the latest two bird flu cases in the country might have been caused by human-to-human transmission.

•International health experts warn that the official numbers of bird flu deaths may be too low, and governments may be greatly underestimating the problem.

•At a three-day Pan-American conference on the bird flu, experts and authorities from across the Americas announce their intention to work together to prevent bird flu outbreaks and collaborate if the disease hits Latin America.


Dec. 3, 2005 – More than 1,600 dead birds in southern Ukraine's Crimea peninsula test positive for the H5 strain of the bird flu virus. Representatives announce that test results, indicating whether the lethal strain was H5N1, should be released Dec. 8.
•World Health Organization tests confirm that a 25-year-old Indonesian woman who died last week was the country's eighth bird flu victim.

•China announces a new research program to discover new bird flu treatments by combining Chinese traditional medicine and Western knowledge.

•Vietnam's agriculture ministry reports that more chickens and ducks are dying in the country's two northern provinces due to fresh bird flu outbreaks, and birds are also dying in a third area.


Dec. 4, 2005 – Cioacile becomes the fourth village in eastern Romania's Braila county to be quarantined in a week after three chickens test positive for the bird flu H5 virus. New samples are sent out to determine whether these strains are H5N1.
•A Vietnamese doctor concludes that Tamiflu does not work after he unsuccessfully treats 41 H5N1 victims with the drug.


Dec. 5, 2005 – Romania quarantines two more villages in the southeastern part of the country's Danube delta amid fears of a bird flu outbreak there.

Dec. 8, 2005 – A 31-year-old farmer, who fell ill on Oct. 30 with high fever and pneumonia-like symptoms, is confirmed as China's fifth human case of bird flu after falling sick following contact with dead birds. She has since recovered.
•The Ukrainian birds that were tested earlier in the month are confirmed to have the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

•A 41-year-old female factory worker, surnamed Zhou, is admitted to the hospital with symptoms of fever and pneumonia.


Dec. 9, 2005 – The agriculture minister of Turkey, Mehdi Eker, announces there is no longer any bird flu in Turkey. This causes some controversy when it is later revealed that bird flu was detected in the laboratories of the Agriculture Ministry on this very same day.

Dec. 13, 2005 – Zhou's blood samples test negative for the H5N1 virus when tested by the Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dec. 15, 2005 – Turkey reports an oubreak of bird flu in poultry located nine miles from its border with Iran. Three hundred fifty-nine fowl are destroyed in an attempt to contain the infection.
•China reports the 31st outbreak among birds in 2005. Dec. 22, 2005 -- Romania reports its 21st outbreak among poultry.

•Indonesia's number of human deaths related to bird flu rises to 11.


Dec. 21, 2005 – Zhou, the 41-year-old Chinese factory worker, dies in a hospital in the southeastern province of Fujian, China. Doctors fear bird flu may be responsible.

Dec. 23, 2005 – Further testing of blood samples of Zhou confirms she died of complications arising from the H5N1 avian flu strain. This brings the total number of bird flu related fatalities for December 2005 to six; the worst since March 2005, when seven people died.

Dec. 29, 2005 – China announces its seventh human case of bird flu and its third fatality.

Jan. 1, 2006 – A 14-year-old boy named Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, from Dogubeyazit, Turkey, dies, but health officials say bird flu was not the cause, instead attributing the death to pnuemonia.

Jan. 3, 2006 – Bogus bird flu drugs begin to flood the internet.

Jan. 4, 2006 – Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, who died on Jan. 1, is confirmed to have died of bird flu, contradicting the initial report that the boy had died from pneumonia.
•The boy's 15-year-old sister, Fatma Kocyigit, also tests positive for the H5N1 virus.

•A third case, 11-year-old Hulya Kocyigit, is pending. Fatma, Mehmet, Hulya and their family lived with and raised, poultry at their Dogubeyazit, Turkey home. These are the first known human cases of bird flu in Turkey.


Jan. 5, 2006 – Turkey's second known human case of bird flu, 15-year-old Fatma Kocyigit, dies in the early morning. Health officials say that these cases are not the beginning of a pandemic.

Jan. 6, 2006 – A study in Vietnam suggests the bird flu virus is more widespread --and spreads between humans --more easily than most experts surmise, but that it also probably doesn't kill half its victims. The study is not considered definitive, but experts call the information "compelling."

Jan. 7, 2006 – Hulya Kocyigit becomes the third person in Turkey to die of the bird flu.

Jan. 9, 2006 – A total of 14 people have been diagnosed with bird flu in Turkey (pending lab confirmation), but UN health experts say there is still no evidence to suggest it is spreading between humans.
•The European Union bans the import of untreated feathers from six countries neighboring, or close to, Turkish borders.

•Another bird flu outbreak is reported in the Crimean peninsula.


Jan. 11, 2006 -- Two brothers, four and five years old, test positive for the H5N1 virus, but neither shows symptoms of the disease. They are closely watched at Kecioren Hospital in Turkey's capital of Ankara, as doctors are unsure if the boys have human bird flu in its earliest stages, or if the infection does not necessarily lead to illness.
•WHO reports two more bird-flu deaths in China.


Jan. 12, 2006 -- Analysis of virus samples from two of the Kocyigit children detects a change in one gene in one of two samples tested, but WHO says it is too early to tell whether the mutation is important.

Jan. 13, 2006 -- The World Health Organization confirms Indonesia's 12th bird flu fatality.
•Turkish health authorities launch an investigation to determine if two-year-old Sahibe Yetistiren is Turkey's fourth death from bird flu. Experts say this is unlikely, as she had a bacterial lung infection rather than a viral one, and that she had no history of contact with birds.


Jan. 14, 2006 -- A 13-year-old Indonesian girl dies of bird flu, bringing the country's bird flu death toll to 13.
•The girl's 5-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother are tested for bird flu, but results are inconclusive.


Jan. 15, 2006 -- Twelve-year-old Fatma Ozcan of Dogubayazit, Turkey, dies in hospital, but preliminary tests show she is negative for bird flu.

Jan. 16, 2006 -- Tests show that Fatma Ozcan died from bird flu, making her Turkey's fourth death related to the illness.
•Turkey kills 764,000 fowl in an attempt to control the virus' spread.

•The WHO asks the Turkish Government for permission to track the virus' spread in humans.


Jan. 17, 2006 -- The 3-year-old brother of the Indonesian girl who died on Jan. 14, dies.

Jan. 18, 2006 -- Testing confirms that the Indonesian toddler who died on Jan. 17 had bird flu.
•WHO and UN officials expect bird flu spread in Turkey to slow as massive numbers of birds are culled, and poultry farmers quickly adapt to improved hygiene standards.


Jan. 23, 2006 -- China announces its 10th human case of bird flu infection.
Indonesia announces two more bird flu-related deaths.

Jan. 25, 2006 -- Bird flu kills a 29-year old woman Chinese woman, the seventh person to die from the disease in China.

2007 - 2008 -- Bird flu continues to smolder throughout SE Asia, with various infections and deaths reported, but no major outbreaks occur outside of areas with close contact to poultry.

March, 2009 -- Baxter International accidentally mixes live avian flu viruses into vaccine materials shipped to 18 countries. Concerns of a man-made pandemic circulate across the 'net. (http://www.naturalnews.com/025760.html)

April, 2009 -- Suspected human-to-human transmission of bird flu reported in Egypt. WHO denies human-to-human transmission.

April, 2009 -- Swine flu outbreak hits, originating in Mexico City and quickly spreading to more than ten nations. Infection rates are high and the virus exhibits a long, undetectable incubation period. Human-to-human transmission confirmed.

April 27, 2009 -- Swine flu confirmed in U.S. schools. Now impacting California, Texas, New York, Kansas and other states.

April 28, 2009 -- WHO raises pandemic threat level to "Phase 4." WHO recommends against air travel restrictions. Some nations (including China) ban importation of pork from Mexico, U.S.

April 29, 2009 -- First U.S. death from swine flu reported. Outbreak confirmed as spreading to Israel, Spain and New Zealand.

This timeline is excerpted from the book How to Beat the Bird Flu by Mike Adams. The full book can be purchased in downloadable or hardcopy editions at www.TruthPublishing.com.


Authors' Quotes on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
Below, you'll find selected quotes on the 1918 pandemic from noted authors. Feel free to quote these in your own work provided you give proper credit to both the original author quoted here and this NaturalNews page.

Only five types of influenza are known to infect humans: HI, H2, H3, and Nl or N2. The avian influenza viruses H4, H5, and H7 make birds sick but usually don't infect humans. That may be about to change, however. In addition to its technical designation, when the flu becomes a human infection, each of the different influenza A viruses is given a common name corresponding to the place of outbreak or origin: the Spanish flu of 1918 or the Hong Kong flu of 1968. The word "influenza" is derived from the Latin influentia, to influence.


Influenza is called the "last of the great uncontrolled plagues," and some epidemiologists believe that we are imminently due for an influenza epidemic of plague proportions like that of 1918.
- Viral Immunity by J. E. Williams, O.M.D.


A review in The Lancet suggests that influenza vaccination of infants is useless. Each and every year at this time medical officials come out to remind us of our mortal danger. However, they advocate medical procedures that do little to nothing to protect us, but cost billions nonetheless. Dr. Eleanor McBean was an on-the-spot observer of the 1918 influenza epidemic and said, "As far as I could find out, the flu hit only the vaccinated. Those who had refused the shots escaped the flu. My family had refused all the vaccinations so we remained well all the time.

Just over thirty years ago, in 1976, the Centers for Disease Control investigated and confirmed that a severe influenza outbreak at Fort Dix, New Jersey, had been caused by the "swine flu" -- an influenza A-type virus. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare grew concerned that the United States might be about to see another large national flu pandemic, involving numbers of influenza deaths reminiscent of the flu pandemic of 1918. The federal government deemed it prudent to vaccinate all Americans. In October 1976, the National influenza Immunization Program officially began.
- The Autoimmune Epidemic by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
- Available on Amazon.com

The infamous 1918 influenza, which spun around the planet in the last year of World War I, ended up killing more people than the Great War itself. Though it was called the "Spanish" flu, it most likely originated in Asia. In America, the first outbreak occurred on a military base in Kansas in the vicinity of a pig farm. The 1918 pandemic is believed to have killed up to 40 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Many more got sick but survived. The 1918 flu killed more soldiers engaged in the war than the combat of the trenches.


Avian flu is feared because it could provoke a repeat of the influenza pandemic of 1918. The 1918 flu, or H1N1 virus, was -- like the avian flu -- an influenza A virus. Like that earlier flu, avian flu unleashes an unusual hurricanelike storm of immune-system signaling proteins called cytokines, which signal the immune system to combat microbial invaders. Cytokines signaling to the immune system to fight disease is a good thing, but when cytokine levels are elevated for too long and their signaling becomes uncontrolled, they can hijack the body's immune system to turn against the body itself.


Experts believe that the current avian H5N1 influenza strain, "bird flu," has the potential to become a human pandemic in proportions that could dwarf the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed millions and is, to date, the deadliest influenza outbreak in modern history. Flu hunters, influenza experts who follow viral outbreaks, identify hot spots, study the disease in the laboratory, investigate its genetic code, and create theoretical worst-case scenarios in order to understand the disease and predict its path, all agree on one thing: It's only a matter of time before the next outbreak happens.

Fear of influenza deaths in numbers similar to the 1918 flu epidemic led to a recommendation that the federal government vaccinate all Americans. When insurance companies refused to provide coverage to the vaccine manufacturers, the government agreed to accept liability for claims of adverse events. This obstacle having been cleared, the National influenza Immunization Program (NIIP) officially started in October of 1976.


Given the increasing virulence and frequency of other viruses, it seems certain that a more potent influenza virus will appear. In the temperate regions, like North America and Europe, flu outbreaks occur every winter and epidemics approximately every eight to ten years. Worldwide influenza pandemics occur every ten to forty years, and in the last century the world experienced three: the Spanish flu of 1918; the Asian flu in 1957; and the Hong Kong flu in 1968.
- Viral Immunity by J. E. Williams, O.M.D.


If a strain of influenza emerged that retained these traits and added others like resistance to antiviral drugs and the ability to outsmart vaccines, we'd be in big trouble. A super flu is a viral infection that has all the ancestral traits of influenza, is drug-resistant, has undergone genetic mutations that make it possible for it to spread from human to human, no one has immunity to, and is extremely contagious and virulent. Pandemic influenza, like the Spanish flu of 1918, is much more virulent than regular flu.

Though little attention is paid to a possible connection between fibromyalgia and influenza A, some experts suggest it is an overlooked syndrome. In one research paper, Allen Tyler, a medical doctor and naturopathic physician, reports that fibromyalgia was not seen before the 1918 flu pandemic. In his research, he found that 90 percent of fibromyalgia patients tested positive for influenza A antibodies.

The experts hope that a pandemic influenza will be nothing more than a more severe version of seasonal nuisance flu, but they're not betting on it. Viral dynamics are a mystery. We could be in for a super flu. During a pandemic, symptoms may not follow the usual course. If the coming one is anything like the 1918 influenza pandemic, inflammation may not be confined to the lungs, like regular flu, but could affect the brain, liver, and other body tissues. The virus could even bypass the respiratory system entirely.

The 1918-19 epidemic of Spanish influenza killed 20-40 million people in less than a year, causing more deaths than all the massive military casualties of World War I. In the spring of 1918, the German Army's assault on Paris was halted by this flu. It not only affected Europeans, but an unbelievable 80 percent of the United States Army's death toll was from the Spanish flu that killed 43,000 American soldiers between 1917 and 1919 -- nearly as many as died in combat in the Korean War some thirty years later.

During the conquest of the Americas, upward of 95 percent of indigenous people in North America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America were wiped out by smallpox and influenza. The last major killer pandemic, the Spanish flu of 1918, caused an estimated 50 million deaths and possibly as high as 100 million in a single year. It reached even remote corners of the globe. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was more like a Biblical prophecy come true than a medical disease.

The 1918 outbreak was directly linked with the Great War (World War 1). The influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1 behind the flu pandemic was unusually severe and deadly. What made it that way? At no time in history was the world exposed to such massive and 24-hour pollution created by the fumes and smoke resulting from continuous bomb and grenade explosions, the burning of entire cities, the effects of mustard gases and other biological weapons by Germans. Nobody remained uninfluenced by it.


IMO: 2014