In 1889, a mysterious respiratory disease appeared in Russia and then spread throughout the world. The disease has triggered at least three waves of infection over several years. Now, some scientists suspect that the "Russian flu" may actually be caused by a pandemic coronavirus similar to the SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.
This assumption is certainly not without reason. There are some easy similarities to draw between the two pandemics. For example, during the Russian flu pandemic, schools and workplaces were closed due to the large number of infected people. Those infected often experience a loss of their sense of taste and smell, and some experience prolonged symptoms that last for months.
According to historical records that include government health records, newspaper and journal articles, in general, the Russian flu appears to have killed far more elderly people than children. This is in contrast to the influenza virus which tends to be equally fatal for both age groups.
Peter Palese, a flu researcher and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said that while the characteristics of the Russian flu pandemic are very similar to those of the current pandemic, the suggestion that the Russian flu may have been caused by the Corona virus is still speculative.
Some experts echo this sentiment, but others say they suspect that while there may be strong evidence to support the idea, so far no such evidence has been found.
Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, head of viral pathogenesis and evolution at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and John Oxford, emeritus professor of virology at Queen Mary, University of London, are looking for evidence.
They have been excavating lung tissue samples preserved before the 1918 flu pandemic, looking for remnants of the influenza virus and the coronavirus. Among these networks, they hope to find the elusive Russian flu virus.
Scott Podolsky, a professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Dominic W. Hall, curator of the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard, are also looking for preserved lung tissue from the same time period.
If genetic material from the Russian flu virus appeared in these lungs, it might provide clues as to how the pandemic ended, as news coverage from that time provided little.
And if the late 19th century pandemic was caused by a coronavirus, some scientists think it might still be circulating as one of the four coronaviruses that causes the common cold, not a severe illness.