In 1889, this type of crown killed a million people!

crown crown, Photo: EPA

In Central Asia in 1889 there was a viral epidemic that killed around a million people. Experts have called the disease “Russian flu,” but without proper analysis of the tissue samples, we cannot know exactly what the virus was exactly.

One possibility is that this “flu” was actually a coronavirus pandemic.

Specifically, four strains of coronavirus are responsible for about 20 to 30 percent of colds today, with far more death in the past. Epidemiologists believe that all four coronaviruses have been circulating among humans for the past few centuries. When they were just emerging, they probably caused major pandemics.

The parallels with our current crisis are obvious, and a better understanding of these other coronaviruses could be vital for a more effective response to Covid-19. Knowledge of the origin, spread, and characteristics of common coronavirus colds can provide crucial insight into what to expect in the months and years ahead. Understanding these relatively harmless coronavirus strains could also help us avoid the next pandemic, New Scientist writes.

corona corona at BiH, Photo: Printscreen youtube

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that primarily cause disease in livestock and, until recently, have not caught the attention of virologists.

“Coronavirus was observed in humans in the 1960s, but the two strains detected only caused a common cold and did not pay much attention,” said pediatrician and epidemiologist Frank Esper of the Cleveland Clinic.

The appearance of SARS

In 2002, a new, more serious strain of coronavirus, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), began to spread worldwide and was successfully contained the following year. The SARS-CoV-1 virus has affected 26 countries and infected 8,000 people. She died every tenth. The high death rate from SARS has alarmed epidemiologists, and the coronavirus has come to the fore by experts from around the world.

A related virus has been discovered in bats, animals that manage to live with coronaviruses without contracting it. It is possible that the SARS epidemic occurred when bats infected the civet (a species of wild cat in Asia) after which SARS spread to humans.

Coronaviruses have proteins on their surface, which act as a key that opens the door for different cells to enter different host species. These proteins can be shaped and altered by genetic mutations or by the exchange of genetic material, thus opening new doors. Therefore, virologists searched for new coronavirus strains by tracing them in humans and wildlife to understand exactly what causes protein modifications.

Coronavirus NL63

Microbiologist Lia van der Hek of the University of Amsterdam, who has been honing her technology to detect unknown strains of the virus for some time, found another coronavirus strain, HCoV-NL63, in a 7-month-old baby with bronchiolitis.

“I came across NL63 by chance before I discovered SARS,” said van der Heck. Other studies have shown that NL63 is a widespread occurrence and that this strain of coronavirus has infected between 1 and 9 percent of people with inflammation of the airways worldwide. NL63 causes fever, cough, sore throat, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

NL63 relatives were later found in pigs, cats, and bats. In 2012, experts discovered, through genetic comparisons of NL63 in humans and bats, that they had a common ancestor that lived 500 to 800 years ago. This means that NL63 crossed humans sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries. At the time, a pandemic was likely, according to virologist Ralf Baric of the University of North Carolina.

Like SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, the original NL63 was somewhat fatal. Both viruses bind to the same cellular receptor.

“This old pandemic looked like the flu, but it caused more severe symptoms of the disease in the elderly,” said Baric.

Iceland, crown crown, Photo: Shutterstock

Here again, the Russian flu enters history.

After the SARS epidemic, there was renewed interest in two apparently unexplained cold-causing coronaviruses that were discovered in the 1960s: HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43.

By comparing these viruses with strains found in other animals, experts have concluded that OC43 must come from cattle or pigs and that it was transmitted to humans around 1890. Does the year sound familiar to you?

1890 is not the only factor linking OC43 to the Russian flu. Many of the Russian flu patients have severe symptoms affecting their central nervous system, and OC43 is known to infect nervous tissue. If OC43 is to blame for the 1889/90 pandemic, it has obviously slowly mutated into an increasingly dangerous virus in the past 130 years. The pandemic has likely lasted for several years, such as several severe flu seasons, and then OC43 turned into a common cold.