The 1976 Swine Flu Outbreak

The 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, New Jersey set a precedent in immunology through attempts to vaccinate an entire population of a nation against the potential for a swine flu epidemic. Even though vast numbers of people were successfully immunized in a short period of time, the National Influenza Immunization Program (NIIP) rapidly became recognized as a failure because the epidemic that had been greatly feared failed to surface. The evidence linked to the microbiology, pathology, and historical cycle of influenza and the outbreak at Fort Dix; however, suggests that the reactions of the scientists and personnel involved with the NIIP were appropriate. The complications and misjudgments which plagued the program following its initiation; to include logistical issues, biological difficulties, and tensions involving the media, must also be acknowledged.

The shifts in the influenza virus created a cycle of virility of the disease that pointed to the potential for a major outbreak in 1976. Because of the flu's constant adaptation and re-emergence there is great reason for its label of, 'The Last Great Plague,' since the flu is essentially impossible to create a lasting solution to.

The flu has been recorded since the fifteen century, and the number of years between pandemics has decreased during the last century due to intercontinental travel that has accelerated the buildup of immunity to any given strain of the flu. It has been hypothesized that there is now an eleven year cycle between major antigen shift pandemics, with smaller epidemics occurring between that are linked to antigenic drift.

Another suggestion is that strains of the flu recycle themselves in approximately fifty-year cycles; enough time so that most of the original immunities have died out of a population. There were eleven years between the pandemics of 1946, 1957, and 1968. The 1957 flu was similar to the of 1889, and the flu of 1968 was similar to the flu of 1900.

From the various pathological, historical, and microbiological, evidence involved with the outbreak at Fort Dix it is easy to understand why the people in charge during 1976 chose to take the actions they did. The scientists of the time decided to create a vaccine against the swine flu they were faced with, deciding to pursue immunization because they had a good amount of time before the next flu season to use in order to organize the project. The threat seemed real enough, and if they waited until the flu hit they would not have enough time to begin vaccinations before the flu set in. The decision to immunize also gave the scientists the opportunity to demonstrate to the public at large the value of immunizations.

The operation itself involved preparation of nearly two-hundred million doses of vaccine. In order to create the vaccine, scientists injected an appropriate amount of the influenza strain into embyonated eggs, creating a culture for the viruses. Multiplied viruses were separated from the yolk of the eggs and rendered noninfectious by formaldehyde. Potency of the vaccine was measured in the amount of the vaccine using hemmagglutinin, clumped together using blood cells, and recored in terms of chick cell agglutination (CCA). Massive field tests were performed, and scientists decided that 200 CCA units would be effective for the majority of the population while causing a minimum of side-effects.