Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communications Arising
  • Published:

Molecular virology

Was the 1918 flu avian in origin?

Nature volume 440, page E9 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Arising from: J. K. Taubenberger et al. Nature 437, 889–893 (2005); see also communication from Gibbs and Gibbs; Taubenberger et al. reply

Taubenberger et al.1 claim that the 1918 influenza virus was derived from an avian source and adapted to humans shortly before the pandemic. However, we do not believe that this conclusion, which has been widely disseminated in the popular press and in scientific journals2,3,4, is supported by their phylogenetic evidence.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Neighbour-joining analysis of the PB1 subunit of the influenza virus A polymerase heterotrimer and of the peptide PB1–F2.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Taubenberger, J. K. et al. Nature 437, 889–893 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Belshe, R. B. N. Engl. J. Med. 353, 2209–2211 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Russell, C. J. & Webster, R. G. Cell 123, 368–371 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sharp, P. A. Science 310, 17 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Reid, A. H., Fanning, T. G., Janczewski, T. A., Lourens, R. M. & Taubenberger, J. K. J. Virol. 78, 12462–12470 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Reid, A. H., Taubenberger, J. K. & Fanning, T. G. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 2, 909–914 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kumar, S., Tamura, K. & Nei, M. Brief. Bioinformat. 5, 150–163 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 22904, Virginia, USA

    Janis Antonovics, Michael E. Hood & Christi Howell Baker

Authors
  1. Janis Antonovics
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael E. Hood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christi Howell Baker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janis Antonovics.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Antonovics, J., Hood, M. & Baker, C. Was the 1918 flu avian in origin?. Nature 440, E9 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04824

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04824

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing
pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy