The Spanish flu outbreak which lasted from 1918 1919 was one

Last updated: 2/8/2023

The Spanish flu outbreak which lasted from 1918 1919 was one of the most severe pandemics in recent history it is believed to have infected over 500 million and killed over 50 million people worldwide this is more than any other pandemic including COVID 19 This flu was caused by the H1N1 virus and was unusually deadly For the scientific community the outbreak of the Spanish Flu began a race to create a vaccine Vaccines prevent deadly and or dangerous diseases by working with the body s immune system to reduce the risk of infection and develop immunity against the disease One of the leading causes of death for patients infected with the flu was a pneumonia infection in their lungs Due to this a British scientist named Frederick Griffith decided to focus his work on creating a vaccine to prevent pneumonia infections Pneumonia is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae Streptococcus pneumoniae has two forms the S strain and the R strain The S or smooth strain is covered with an outer coat known as a capsule and is highly virulent meaning it is able to cause the disease The R or rough strain has a rough appearance because it lacks a capsule and is therefore nonvirulent meaning it does not cause the disease Griffith was interested in researching ways to manipulate or change the S strain bacteria to alter its virulence Specifically he wanted to heat kill the cells to determine if that would reduce their virulence He planned to inject healthy mice with both the S and R strains What is a possible hypothesis for Frederick Griffith s experiment