Thanks to Verena for involving us and to all those involved, including the curators of the collections in Zurich (who provided the new samples) and the Berlin Museum of Medical History of the Charite (who provided positive controls).

More data is definitely needed to understand the evolutionary genomics of the largest respiratory pandemic of the 20th century.
We don t expect a ton of specimens out there, but a few more can certainly be found.

@lemeylab.bsky.social (incl Bram Vrancken) kicked in to show that the small sample of 1918 IAVs seem to show higher diversity in HA, PA, and PB2 than matched 2009 H1N1pdm samples.
Perhaps helped transition to high pathogenicity, as HA and pol genes have been linked to 1918 IAV high pathogenicity?

The case was from the pre pandemic wave that hit Zurich in July 1918, and was sampled within a week of the first patient clearly identified as a flu case in the city.
The genome already shows human-like residues at key sites for adaptation to mammalian hosts.

Congrats to the two amazing PhD candidates who led this work @schlotterbeckj.bsky.social and Carme Riutord-Fe: terrific job! And many thanks to Fabian Leendertz, Liv Patrono, Ari Düx, @jangogarten.bsky.social and everyone involved for yet another exciting project together! 4/4

At first glance it may seem exaggerated to put so much emphasis on a single or a few ecosystems, but in the long run I think it is probably our best shot at disentangling the complex ecological processes that lead to the emergence of infectious diseases 3/4

This was only possible because of @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social commitment to long term health monitoring of wild nonhuman primates, here at Taï (CIV) with our friends of the @taichimpproject.bsky.social 2/4

I also think that it does a pretty good job at publicizing important discussions and changes through multiple means (website, Arch Vir, JGV and articles in prominent journals, e.g. Nat Microbiol).

As others, including @psimmond.bsky.social have pointed at, the ICTV welcomes all views and proposals.

I d also like to be added. Thanks!

Hi
Related to your & the previous post, I looked it up and there are 120 Study Groups (SGs), with collectively more than 900 members. These are expert and typically quite experienced virologists, & should provide a reasonable cross-section of knowledge and expertise. So it's not a mad dictatorship!

This happens every year, which means the ICTV is de facto a permanent consultation body; however, it does not wait for the broader community engagement to enact taxonomy changes

These proposals are reviewed by the SG, then
subcommittees and finally the executive committee - a process starting in spring each year (SG send proposals to subcommittees at this point). Approved proposals are then ratified by the entire ICTV membership in the fall

All binomials have already been approved by the ICTV and therefore represent the current official taxonomy. The way it works: ICTV operates year-round, with taxonomy change proposals collected by (usually) family level study groups (SG) and subcommittees - each overseeing multiple SG