Prašičja gripa – lekcija 1976

Medtem ko se številke o sumljivih in potrjenih primerih “prašičje gripe” v Mehiki in na jugu ZDA spreminjajo iz dneva v dan (trenutno je v Mehiki menda že več kot 1000 obolelih in več kot 60 sumljivih smrtnih primerov), si je zanimivo ogledati primere iz zgodovine. Primer prašičje gripe v Mehiki povzroča nervozo zaradi tega, ker je podoben virus povzročil pandemijo Španske gripe l. 1918, v kateri je umrlo več kot 50 milijonov ljudi.

Zanimiva je tudi epizoda iz l. 1976, ko je sev prašičje gripe okužil okoli 500 vojakov v vojaški bazi Fort Dix v zvezni državi New Jersey, eden od obolelih pa je tudi umrl. Raziskovalci so v nekaj tednih razvili cepivo, nakar je bilo v veliki akciji cepljenih okoli 40 milijonov američanov. Nekaj sto cepljenih je nato razvilo nevrološko okvaro, začasno paralizo, tako imenovani sindrom Guillain-Barré, kar je seveda vodilo v številne kritike ali je bilo tako obširno cepljenje sploh potrebno. Več o dogajanju l. 1976 lahko preberete tukaj.

Na ScienceInsider lahko preberete intervju z upokojenim specialistom za nalezljive bolezni, Edwinom D. Kilbourneom, 88 let, ki je v času izbruha l. 1976 vodil mikrobiološki oddelek na Mount Sinai Medical School v New York City. Nekaj izsekov:

Q: You believed it was important to have this vaccine?

I believed it was important—this could have been the putative virus of 1918 for all we knew. [But] there were those violently opposed to the situation. I call it my 15 minutes of infamy. It got to be a bad word, swine flu. On the other hand, had we not had the vaccine and something had happened, who would be blamed? The entire medical profession.

…..

Q: If you were advising those who are tackling the current swine flu, what would you tell them?

The only thing I would have done differently in 1976, retrospectively, is to make the vaccine, promote the vaccine, but not give the vaccine until the last moment—but the problem with that is that you may be too late. By all means, find the prevalent strain, make a vaccine that can be used, and grow it in eggs, and then go with it. [But] I think it’s premature to do it [vaccinate] now

-