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The Boston fire of 9 November 1872 burned down much of the financial district of Boston.67 Among other factors, the devastation of the fire has been attributed to the ongoing influenza panzootic (Boston, 11 November 1872). Because most of the equine work force was incapacitated, fire stations throughout the United States recruited teams of men to pull fire wagons. The slow response times of the Boston teams are believed by many to have led to the fire getting out of control. Above, onlookers on Devonshire Street assemble around Steamer Number 10, from the Fire House on Mount Vernon Street. At far right a fireman with a hose sprays the ruins.
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![Figure 2: Influenza pandemics since 1510 [modified from (5)].](profile/Jeffery-Taubenberger/publication/47499574/figure/fig2/AS:281138053566464@1444039943248/nfluenza-pandemics-since-1510-modified-from-5_Q320.jpg)
To understand human influenza in a historical context of viral circulation in avian species, mammals, and in the environment.
Historical review.
Global events in a variety of circumstances over more than 3,000 years time.
Comprehensive review of the historical literature including all major publications on pandemic and panzootic influenza.
Influenz...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... stations around the country either brought in oxen from the countryside or trained teams of young men to pull fire wagons. Nevertheless, a fire in Boston's financial district got out of control, and much of the city burned down on 9 November [ Figure 4; (67)], allegedly in part because slower moving fire wagons drawn by teams of young men could not respond quickly enough (Boston, 11 November 1872). Equine epizootics were common across the United States for the next 30 years, but with the exception of major epizootics in 1880-1881 and 1900-1901, they tended to be local, to affect mostly young horses, and to feature much lower attack rates. ...
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Citations
... Scientists claimed that from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, influenza was considered as much an equine disease as a human disease. Pigs are susceptible to infection with both avian and human influenza strains and are thus a "mixing vessel" for flu viruses with pandemic potential for humans [13,16]. Figure 1 highlights the animal world's overlapping nature of flu virus subtypes. ...
... Veterinarians, infectious disease specialists, and historians have documented "fowl plague" on chicken farms since the nineteenth century [16][17][18][19][20][21]. From 1878 through 1955, fowl plaque was a high-mortality poultry disease in many countries. ...
Beginning in 2005, Qinghai Lake on the Tibetan Plateau was the scene of the unprecedented appearance of avian influenza among migratory birds. These were significant events in the subsequent global spread of the virus to poultry (and occasionally humans) in many new countries on three continents. Events at Qinghai sparked energetic debates about the role of migratory birds in spreading influenza viruses among domestic and wild birds. In turn, this led to cross-disciplinary research that highlighted the interconnections of environment, wildlife, and human activities. Factors in the Qinghai case study (Qinghai) include the vast permafrost landscape of the Tibetan Plateau, the ecology of wild geese that migrate over the Himalayas, a high-altitude railway (the “permafrost rooster”) that traverses the Tibetan Plateau, and an avian virus (H5N1). This chapter considers multiple factors: the ecology of migratory birds, agricultural practices that mix wild and domestic birds, climate warming, and factory poultry farming. As a place at the crossroads of interconnected global phenomena such as avian influenza and climate change, the Qinghai case study provides a lens to envision the unintended consequences of natural and human forces over the coming decades.
... High incidence (100%) and low mortality (up to 2%) were observed in horses. The second fact is the report that this pathogen could cause influenza infection in poultry in the United States in 1874 (Morens and Taubenberger, 2010). In fact, the first characterized EI virus was isolated in Czechoslovakia in 1956 (A/equine/1/Prague/56, H7N7, equi-1). ...
The article provides a brief historical background of equine influenza, the spread of this disease worldwide, and the current epizootic situation. The results of serological monitoring by ELISA of wild and domestic ungulates from different farms and regions of Ukraine for the presence of antibodies to influenza A viruses are presented. Blood serum samples from 372 domestic horses and 32 wild ungulates were tested. Samples from animals collected in 2023 and 2024 and archival blood serum samples from 2021 were used and tested according to the manufacturer’s instructions using ELISA test systems manufactured by IDEXX, INGEZIM, and IDVet. The data obtained indicate a fairly active circulation of influenza A viruses in populations of unvaccinated domestic horses. The circulation was established not only in recent years (2023–2024, seroprevalence from 10% to 100%), but was observed earlier, as evidenced by the detection of 60.9% of positive samples in samples collected in 2021. In addition, two out of three positive samples were found in wild horses from Kherson Region, which indicates the circulation of influenza A virus among wild animals and requires further investigation. The results correlate with the worsening of the epidemiological situation regarding influenza in animals in Europe. The subsequent phase of the research is serotyping, which involves determining the presence of antibodies to specific virus subtypes by hemagglutinin
... Swine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease in pigs caused by influenza A virus (IAV). IAV can infect numerous animal hosts, including humans, birds, dogs, cats, pigs, horses, ferrets, minks, and seals [1]. The viral reservoir and gene pool are maintained in metapopulations of aquatic wild birds [2]. ...
Swine influenza viruses (SIVs) have been circulating in swine globally and are potential threats to human health. During the surveillance of SIVs in Shandong Province, China, from 2019 to 2022, 21 reassortant G4 genotype Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 subtypes containing genes from the EA H1N1 (HA and NA), 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) H1N1 virus (PB2, PB1, PA, NP, and M), and classical swine (CS) H1N1 (NS) lineages were isolated. The analysis of the key functional amino acid sites in the isolated viruses showed that two mutation sites (190D and 225E) that preferentially bind to the human α2-6 sialic acid receptor were found in HA. In PB2, three mutation sites (271A, 590S, and 591R) that may increase mammalian fitness and a mutation site (431M) that increases pathogenicity in mice were found. A typical human signature marker that may promote infection in humans, 357K, was found in NP. The viruses could replicate efficiently in mouse lungs and turbinates, and one of the H1N1 isolates could replicate in mouse kidneys and brains without prior adaption, which indicates that the viruses potentially pose a threat to human health. Histopathological results showed that the isolated viruses caused typical bronchopneumonia and encephalitis in mice. The results indicate that G4 genotype H1N1 has potential transmissibility to humans, and surveillance should be enhanced, which could provide important information for assessing the pandemic potential of the viruses.
... The symptoms and complications of IAV in humans and poultry are listed in Table 2. Based on their pathogenicity, AIV strains are divided into two types-LPAIV and HPAIV. Although it has been postulated that the influenza viruses have caused human and animal infections since ancient times (48,49), the worst pandemic in the world is the so-called Spanish flu which killed 40 to 100 million people worldwide (5, 50, 51) exceeding the death toll during the world war II-the deadliest war in the world. On the other hand, if we consider that H1N1 which is LPAIV was the reason for the mentioned pandemic, we can only imagine what can be the outcome if H5N1 or other HPAIVs spread in the human population massively. ...
Since the first outbreak in the 19th century influenza virus has remained emergent owing to the huge pandemic potential. Only the pandemic of 1918 caused more deaths than any war in world history. Although two types of influenza– A (IAV) and B (IBV) cause epidemics annually, influenza A deserves more attention as its nature is much wilier. IAVs have a large animal reservoir and cause the infection manifestation not only in the human population but in poultry and domestic pigs as well. This many-sided characteristic of IAV along with the segmented genome gives rise to the antigenic drift and shift that allows evolving the new strains and new subtypes, respectively. As a result, the immune system of the body is unable to recognize them. Importantly, several highly pathogenic avian IAVs have already caused sporadic human infections with a high fatality rate (~60%). The current review discusses the promising strategy of using a potentially universal IAV mRNA vaccine based on conserved elements for humans, poultry, and pigs. This will better aid in averting the outbreaks in different susceptible species, thus, reduce the adverse impact on agriculture, and economics, and ultimately, prevent deadly pandemics in the human population.
... From the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, influenza was as much a disease of horses as humans. 43 Gathering details from many sources provides a picture of human influenza disease for at least five hundred and one thousand or more years. Historians have examined the 1918 influenza pandemic as the most devastating disease since the plague swept Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century. ...
This bibliographic essay frames how zoonotic disease as a field of study developed over time, including the involvement of animals and examples from the history of zoonotic diseases. It contributes to an integrated historiography by incorporating sources from the history of science and medicine, environmental science, animal science, disease ecology,
politics, and anthropology.
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is the latest but not the first deadly pathogen to jump from animals to infect humans. The history of pandemics is replete with such events. However, scientific knowledge is firmly situated in the twenty-first century, and historical perspectives of zoonoses are advancing rapidly.
Commencing with a brief overview of Zoonotic Disease Science, the essay then turns to the historical perspectives of Animal Infections at the Human-Animal Interface. The Disease Entanglements section examines the human-animal-environment dimensions of zoonotic diseases. Next, History meets Biology highlights how historians have engaged with biology, animal studies, social sciences, and anthropology. Zoonotic Diseases in History section includes historical and ecological aspects of well-known zoonoses, including Black Death, HIV-AIDS, avian influenza, COVID-19, and others. The last section highlights One Health, the integrated study of emerging diseases.
... From the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, influenza was as much a disease of horses as humans. 42 Gathering details from many sources provides a picture of human influenza disease for at least five hundred and one thousand or more years. Historians have examined the 1918 influenza pandemic as the most devastating disease since the plague swept Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century. ...
Historical Literature Related to Zoonoses and Pandemics --
This bibliographic essay frames how zoonotic disease as a field of study developed over time, including the involvement of animals and examples from the history of zoonotic diseases. It contributes to an integrated historiography by incorporating sources from the history of science and medicine, environmental science, animal science, disease ecology, politics, and anthropology.
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is the latest but not the first deadly pathogen to jump from animals to infect humans. The history of pandemics is replete with such events. However, scientific knowledge is firmly situated in the twenty-first century, and historical perspectives of zoonoses are advancing rapidly.
Commencing with a brief overview of Zoonotic Disease Science, the essay then turns to the historical perspectives of Animal Infections at the Human-Animal Interface. The Disease Entanglements section examines the human-animal-environment dimensions of zoonotic diseases. Next, History meets Biology highlights how historians have engaged with biology, animal studies, social sciences, and anthropology. Zoonotic Diseases in History section includes historical and ecological aspects of well-known zoonoses, including the Black Death, HIV-AIDS, avian influenza, COVID-19, and others. The last section highlights One Health, the integrated study of emerging diseases.
... Interspecies transmission of avian-origin IAVs into horses occurred on various occasions [14][15][16][17]. H3N8 equine influenza virus (EIV) is the only subtype currently circulating amongst equine populations, as other avian-origin EIVs such as the H7N7 subtype became extinct. ...
The mechanisms and consequences of genome evolution on viral fitness following host shifts are poorly understood. In addition, viral fitness -the ability of an organism to reproduce and survive- is multifactorial and thus difficult to quantify. Influenza A viruses (IAVs) circulate broadly among wild birds and have jumped into and become endemic in multiple mammalian hosts, including humans, pigs, dogs, seals, and horses. H3N8 equine influenza virus (EIV) is an endemic virus of horses that originated in birds and has been circulating uninterruptedly in equine populations since the early 1960s. Here, we used EIV to quantify changes in infection phenotype associated to viral fitness due to genome-wide changes acquired during long-term adaptation. We performed experimental infections of two mammalian cell lines and equine tracheal explants using the earliest H3N8 EIV isolated (A/equine/Uruguay/63 [EIV/63]), and A/equine/Ohio/2003 (EIV/2003), a monophyletic descendant of EIV/63 isolated 40 years after the emergence of H3N8 EIV. We show that EIV/2003 exhibits increased resistance to interferon, enhanced viral replication, and a more efficient cell-to-cell spread in cells and tissues. Transcriptomics analyses revealed virus-specific responses to each virus, mainly affecting host immunity and inflammation. Image analyses of infected equine respiratory explants showed that despite replicating at higher levels and spreading over larger areas of the respiratory epithelium, EIV/2003 induced milder lesions compared to EIV/63, suggesting that adaptation led to reduced tissue pathogenicity. Our results reveal previously unknown links between virus genotype and the host response to infection, providing new insights on the relationship between virus evolution and fitness.
... Similarly, a time-calibrated phylogeny of the H3N8 equine lineage genomic surface glycoprotein sequences revealed that they emerged during the 1800s [112]. As reviewed by Morens and Taubenberger, horses were probably a major reservoir for IAVs before the 20th century and transmission between horses and humans may have occurred frequently [114]. One major event, thought to be a form of influenza due to the displayed symptoms and disease progression, was the same as the aforementioned 1872-73 horse epizootic event, which spread through the US along the rail lines where horses were transported [115]. ...
... An extraordinarily high mortality and morbidity rate in horses paralyzed the country, as travel and transport by horses had to be stopped. During this time, cases of influenza in humans were often linked to exposure to horses [114]. As outlined above, a horse-derived H3N8 virus is thought to have caused the 1889-1890 human pandemic. ...
... Importantly, this was before the first documented introduction of an H3 virus into the human or swine population in 1968, fueling the assumption that an H3 virus circulated around 1890. The last widespread influenza epizootic in horses was in 1915/16 [114,116]. Notably, the world horse population peaked between 1910 and 1920 with 110 million horses and declined to~60 million to date [64,117]. In the US, the horse population peaked with~25 million horses in 1914 and then declined until 1964 (~1.5 million horses) and finally increased again to about 10 million horses to date [118]. ...
Zoonotic infections of humans with influenza A viruses (IAVs) from animal reservoirs can result in severe disease in individuals and, in rare cases, lead to pandemic outbreaks; this is exemplified by numerous cases of human infection with avian IAVs (AIVs) and the 2009 swine influenza pandemic. In fact, zoonotic transmissions are strongly facilitated by manmade reservoirs that were created through the intensification and industrialization of livestock farming. This can be witnessed by the repeated introduction of IAVs from natural reservoirs of aquatic wild bird metapopulations into swine and poultry, and the accompanied emergence of partially- or fully-adapted human pathogenic viruses. On the other side, human adapted IAV have been (and still are) introduced into livestock by reverse zoonotic transmission. This link to manmade reservoirs was also observed before the 20th century, when horses seemed to have been an important reservoir for IAVs but lost relevance when the populations declined due to increasing industrialization. Therefore, to reduce zoonotic events, it is important to control the spread of IAV within these animal reservoirs, for example with efficient vaccination strategies, but also to critically surveil the different manmade reservoirs to evaluate the emergence of new IAV strains with pandemic potential.
... There have been reported cases of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 being transmitted from humans to wild, companion and domesticated mammals due to contact through abiotic elements of environment (de Jong and Hien 2006;Morens and Taubenberger 2010;Messenger et al. 2014). This phenomenon is justified by the fact that the said virus is extremely resilient and capable of mass infections without any reservoir host or biological vector (Zambon 2014). ...
... The primary natural reservoirs of IAV are the aquatic birds, and both EIV and avian IAV share same host cell surface receptors. Although outbreaks of respiratory diseases in horses resembling influenza were reported in the 17th century [74] and even earlier [75], the first isolation of an EIV was that of an H7N7 configuration (subtype 1) in 1956 in Czechoslovakia, designated influenza A/Equine/1/Prague/56 [76]. This subtype was responsible for EI epizootics that spread to many parts of the world by the early 1960s. ...
Equine influenza virus (EIV) is a constantly evolving viral pathogen that is responsible for
yearly outbreaks of respiratory disease in horses termed equine influenza (EI). There is currently no evidence of circulation of the original H7N7 strain of EIV worldwide; however, the EIV H3N8 strain, which was first isolated in the early 1960s, remains a major threat to most of the world’s horse populations. It can also infect dogs. The ability of EIV to constantly accumulate mutations in its antibody-binding sites enables it to evade host protective immunity, making it a successful viral pathogen. Clinical and virological protection against EIV is achieved by stimulation of strong cellular and humoral immunity in vaccinated horses. However, despite EI vaccine updates over the years, EIV remains relevant, because the protective effects of vaccines decay and permit subclinical
infections that facilitate transmission into susceptible populations. In this review, we describe how the evolution of EIV drives repeated EI outbreaks even in horse populations with supposedly high vaccination coverage. Next, we discuss the approaches employed to develop efficacious EI vaccines for commercial use and the existing system for recommendations on updating vaccines based on available clinical and virological data to improve protective immunity in vaccinated horse populations. Understanding how EIV biology can be better harnessed to improve EI vaccines is central to controlling EI.
