Originally published September 17, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified September 17, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Comments (0)
E-mail article
Print view
Diplomat's body exhumed for study of WWI flu
Scientists have exhumed the body of a British diplomat who died of flu during the World War I-era pandemic that killed tens of millions around the world, hoping to find clues that might help fight a future global influenza outbreak.
The Associated Press
LONDON — Scientists have exhumed the body of a British diplomat who died of flu during the World War I-era pandemic that killed tens of millions around the world, hoping to find clues that might help fight a future global influenza outbreak.
The British Broadcasting Corp. said Tuesday that it had filmed virologist John Oxford exhuming Sir Mark Sykes, who died in 1919. Oxford's team took tissue samples before reburying the body in its grave in East Yorkshire in northeast England last week. The British Broadcasting Corp. will broadcast the program Wednesday.
Sykes, best known for the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement dividing up the Middle East in anticipation of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, was buried in a lead-lined coffin that preserved enough human tissue to yield useful information on how he died and the nature of the flu that killed him.
Understanding more about the 1918-19 pandemic, known as the Spanish flu, might help scientists design better treatments for the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Victims of Spanish flu frequently experienced an overly aggressive immune response that attacked their own bodies. The same phenomenon has been seen in human H5N1 cases.
Spanish-flu victims have been studied before, including Inuit bodies recovered from the Arctic permafrost and corpses of World War I soldiers. Experts estimate the flu outbreak killed more than 40 million people worldwide.
An aristocratic and talented linguist, Sykes worked with French diplomat François Georges-Picot to draft a secret agreement to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire into French and British spheres of influence. The lines they drew eventually coalesced into the borders of present-day Iraq, Syria and Israel.
Sykes traveled to Paris in early 1919 and died soon afterward.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
More Nation & World headlines...
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
![]()
Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
Children in home day care watching hours of TV, study says
Senate Democrats split on health bill's fate
U.K. started planning early for war, leaked papers show
Vaccine to kill nicotine buzz now in late tests by small drug firm

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
139 - Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
129 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
126 - Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle
123 - Cutting through breast-cancer confusion
91 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
90 - Game thread
70 - New York terror trials will restore faith in rule of law
68 - Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
54 - Illegal workers quietly let go
48
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Banff: powder, peaks & purity
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Protect yourself from baggage loss





