Where Did the Flu Originate?
No one knows the exact geographic location of the first human flu case, but it probably occurred about 6,000 years ago. Although a flu-like epidemic struck the Greek army in Athens in 412 B.C., there's no way to be sure this was the flu virus.
Theory
Many experts believe that influenza first occurred in warm-blooded vertebrates such as pigs and horses. When people began domesticating these animals, that's when the flu virus crossed to humans.
History
The pandemic of 1580 in Asia Minor and northern Africa is the first recorded outbreak that experts definitively attribute to the flu virus.
Identification
In 1918, a veterinarian named J. S. Koen identified a disease in pigs that he believed was caused by the same virus as the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. The human flu virus was first isolated in the laboratory in 1933.
Types
The most recent novel flu virus is the 2009 H1N1 virus. Infectious disease experts are concerned about this emerging virus because it contains genes found in pigs on three continents, as well as viruses from humans and birds.
Considerations
Easy access to air travel and open borders between countries allow novel flu viruses to spread easily across the globe. While it's important to identify the origin of a new virus, its effect will soon be widespread.
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