Apologies to Cicadas. Now I Think Snails May Carry Influenza

[McCamy Taylor]

I have influenza B. Not quite as nasty as Flu A but still nasty enough. And unlike A, which loves the birds, influenza B affects only humans and one other mammal---seals. Hmmm. What do seals and birds both like to eat? Molluscs. Especially snails. So I did a google search. Here is a article about how a certain species of fresh water snail secrete a chemical that makes influenza virus survive longer in the water as well as making it more virulent.

Hell, maybe the whole kingdom of small, yummy protein rich noms---worms, snails and other tasty morsels--are engaged in a conspiracy to thin the herd of their biggest predators.

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/potential-role-of-fresh-water-apple-snails-on-hn-influenza-virus-persistence-and-concentration-in-nature-2167-7719.1000119.php?aid=38277

[Cicada]

1. I accept your apology

[unblock]

2. ...

[democratisphere]

3. Looks like lots of creatures will contribute to the Sixth Mass Extinction.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. How many of us are exposed to that situation?

The problem with the flu virus is that it mutates relentlessly.

Also, if you get the flu you are probably immune to that version of the flu for a very long, time possibly the rest of your life.

Type A is the nastiest. The 1918 flu virus was a type A. As was the Asian flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968. If you got the flu in any of those years you probably have a permanently immunity to type A flu.

The essential reason why old people didn't get the 1918 flu was that some 50 years earlier another type A flu (is this beginning to sound familiar?) epidemic occurred, so the old people had either gotten it and survived or were somehow naturally immune.

Me? I had the flu several time growing up in the 1950's and 60's. I probably got the Asian flu, as I don't seem to have gotten flu since. I don't get the flu vaccine, but if you think it's a good idea then absolutely, get the shot.

Somehow I'm not worried about flu from snails.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I got the Hong Kong flu in 1968.

It was awful - I haven't been that sick before or since. I've heard conflicting stories about whether immunity to Type A (H3N2) lasts indefinitely, so I always get the flu shot. I really, really don't want to get it again.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. The chances are extremely high that you are permanently immune.

That said, if you choose to get the flu shot, do so.

I have not gotten flu since at the very least some time in the 1960s.

And keep in mind, that those who'd lived through a much earlier type A flu epidemic didn't get flu in 1918.

And, for what it's worth, the last smallpox outbreak in this country was in 1948. And there was clear evidence that those who'd gotten a smallpox vaccination up to 50 years earlier were protected.

I realize these are two slightly different things, and I'm not about to suggest foregoing an appropriate vaccination. But it's still quite amazing how long immunity, whether from a vaccine or getting the disease, can last.

[Fla Dem]

8. I remember the Flu of 1957. Remember my mom taking all us 4 kids to the Armory

uptown to get our shots. We had to walk a mile up and back. Only one car and my dad took it to work. But, we didn't know anything different. We walked everywhere.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I'm pretty sure that's a photo of kids lined up for the Salk vaccine.

I don't think there were mass immunization clinics for the flu shot in the 1950s.

Indeed, I'm surprised to learn that the flu vaccine was originally developed even before the polio vaccine, but it doesn't seem to have become common at all until relatively recently.

[Fla Dem]

10. Yep you're right. It was the polio vaccine. I just remembered going for a shot.

But you joggled my memory. Polio was a big deal back then, in fact one of my best friends got it. Left her with a bad leg and had to wear a brace for a long time. Ended up with a life long limp.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. I think I recall being lined up in a field somewhere.

My mom was a nurse, and she was also giving out shots.

Fun fact: The Salk vaccine was tested in Catholic schools, and the Catholic school we attended was part of the testing, and my older sister was in the correct grade (3rd) to be part of the testing group. Alas, her group all got the placebo, and so she had to go through getting a series of shots again, the next year.

[orleans]

7. i think you just need more bed rest

let the rest of us worry about the snails

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Dudes, I am on to something. Inside the snail, there are nematodes.

Round worm parasites that love their homes and which are notorious for causing disease especially yucky tropical diseases of people who eat the nematodes preferred homes--like certain snails.

So, what if these same nematodes have other ways to sicken and kill the critters that eat their comfy snail (and other) condos? One way would be to carry the flu themselves. Another would be to infect the genocidal scum eating their preferred hosts and jacking with their immune systems, making them die more easily. And, in the process of becoming biologic terrorists, some might even set up home in their targets.

Check out this study. Give rodents nematodes and then infect them with influenza and the virus goes to town. Something about the nematode assists the influenza in doing its dirty work. And rats are notorious for their love of nice fresh juicy snails.

Interaction of Nematospiroides dubius and influenza virus in mice
Author
Wieslaw Chowaniec 2, Richard B. Wescott 3, Larry L. Congdon

https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-4894(72)90007-0
Abstract

The response of mice infected with Nematospiroides dubius to influenza A2 virus was studied in a series of four experiments. Groups of mice, given 50–1000 N. dubius larvae, subsequently were exposed to virus and killed for examination. The amount of virus present in lungs, hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody titers to influenza, and numbers of adult N. dubius present were determined. Significantly higher antibody titers were found in nonparasitized controls than in parasitized mice in all experiments. These differences were most apparent in mice killed 21 days after exposure to virus. The greatest reductions in HI titers were observed in mice given 1000 larvae although mice that received fewer larvae usually had significantly lower titers than nonparasitized controls. The titers of virus present in the lungs of parasitized mice 2 days after exposure tended to be lower than in nonparasitized controls.

Nematospiroides dubius is a rat parasite that hijacks the immune system of the rat in order to achieve a chronic infection state. In the process of hijacking the rat immune system, it also makes the rodent more vulnerable to influenza. See? The great circle of life. Or the great circle of death.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. Oh yeah of little faith, check out this article from 2006

And in particular, this one line:

Strikingly, the pig lungworm nematode has been implicated in directly transmitting the virus responsible for the 1918 influenza pandemic (30-33), but the potential role of nematode vectors in future flu or other viral disease epidemics is seldom discussed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1393236/

We all know what (bacterio)phages are. They are bits of DNA and RNA that infect and grow within bacteria. They get things done from an evolutionary standpoint. But how do bits of DNA and RNA get from one bacterial population to another? They don't have legs. They don't have wings. They don't have cars. They don't have phones so they cannot call Uber. If they want to get around they have to hitch a ride. And what better vector (taxi) than the nematode which is everywhere?