Dr. Palese has published these findings in the October 19th edition of PLoS Pathogens. The crucial hint that allowed him to conduct his research was the papers from the Flu pandemic of 1918. And because doctors back then weren't as brilliant as the ones we have today, were flustered and confused in why the virus was so deadly and spread so rapidly.
The coldest monts in the Northern hemisphere is November to March. But for the Southern Hemisphere it is generally May to September. And in Tropical temperatures, there is no flu season at all therefore not too many flus.
There were several hypotheses to why it spread during the winter, ranging from people staying indoors in clumps to the reason that less Vitamin Ds are produced in the winter. None of these convinced Dr. Palese. What hint Palese off and gave him his hypothesis was a passage from a old 1919 letter:
“It is interesting to note that very soon after the epidemic of influenza reached this camp, our laboratory guinea pigs began to die.” At first, the study’s authors wrote, they thought the animals had died from food poisoning. But, they continued, “a necropsy on a dead pig revealed unmistakable signs of pneumonia.”
From this passage, Palese decides to purchase guinea pigs and test this out for himself. He exposed some guinea pigs to the flu virus and like the passage suggests the pigs spread the disease. The temperature was tested from 41 degrees which was the perfect temperature and the virus could spread, but over 86 degrees it did not. Also low humidity percent (20) was possible for spreading the disease where as a high humidity percent (80) did not allow the spread of the disease. This experiment proves that flus spread more rapidly and better in winter then all of the other seasons.
Reflection
This keeps me aware of the flu season and reaches out to me on wearing the apropriate clothing for this holiday season. Also this gives me a better understanding of how the flu is so effective during the winter and why it is called the flu season.
