Asian flu

Emergency hospital in a Swedish gym during the Asian flu (1957)

The Asian flu was after the Spanish flu , the second worst influenza - pandemic of the 20th century. It was caused by the influenza virus A / Singapore / 1/57 ( H2N2 ). The Asian flu broke out in 1957 and was believed to have originated in the People's Republic of China . It is estimated that one to two million people died worldwide in 1957 and 1958. In Germany, around 30,000 people died from the Asian flu. The Asian flu was caused by a virus subtype that arose from a combination of a human and avian influenza virus ( antigen shift ).

As a preventive measure, it was recommended at the time to gargle with hydrogen peroxide and take tablets containing formalin .

A / H2N2 was easily transmitted from person to person and caused further influenza infections every year until 1968. Subsequently, H2N2 was "replaced" by the subtype A / H3N2; A / H3N2 caused the pandemic known as the Hong Kong flu in 1968 and 1969. An incident occurred in the US in 2005 when H2N2 virus samples were accidentally sent to multiple laboratories, but this did not result in new infections.

See also

• List of epidemics and pandemics

Web links

• Flu epidemic: viruses from Singapore. On: spiegel.de , published in print on July 3, 1957.
• What can be done against "Asian flu"? On: zeit.de , published in print on September 12, 1957.
• SWR2 archive radio: Asian flu in Germany. In: swr.de. SWR2, October 16, 1957, accessed June 5, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ New Scientist of April 13, 2005: "Pandemic-causing 'Asian flu' accidentally released".
2. ↑ SWR2: Asian flu in Germany. In: swr.de. SWR2, October 16, 1957, accessed March 17, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Jeffrey Greene, Karen Moline (2006): The Bird Flu Pandemic. ISBN 0312360568 .
4. ↑ World Health Organization (WHO) ( Memento of April 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Communication of April 12, 2005.
5. ↑ heise.de of April 13, 2005: "Dangerous flu virus was sent to 5,000 laboratories".