Sir Mark Sykes: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

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Sir Mark's body is thought to have been buried in a lead-lined coffin

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A Yorkshire aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago could help the global fight against bird flu, experts say.


A court has authorised the exhumation of the body of Sir Mark Sykes, the owner of the historic Sledmere House near Driffield.

Scientists hope the Spanish flu virus from which he died in 1919 may still be present in his body because it has been preserved in a lead-lined coffin.

If so, DNA samples could help experts develop drugs to fight the virus.
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'Wonderful opportunity'

The Spanish flu virus killed more than 50 million people when it took hold at the end of the First World War.

Scientists have been trying to find a sample of the virus, which was similar to some strains of the modern bird flu virus and could have a similar genetic structure.

It is thought that after he died, Sir Mark's body was brought back to the Sledmere Estate in a lead-lined coffin.

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Scientists may take samples from the aristocrat's body

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The metal has a preservative quality and it is hoped samples containing the virus can still be taken from the aristocrat's body.

Experts have been trying to locate a burial of this kind in the belief it may have preserved the secrets of the virus.

Professor John Oxford, a leading virologist, told the BBC's Inside Out programme: "At this point it looks quite encouraging.

"I think the next thing to do now is to decide to open up the grave and see what samples we can take.

"If we can get samples, that would be a wonderful opportunity for my team and for science in general.

"We can get answers to very important questions. This is not just history - at the moment we are on the potential verge of the first great outbreak of influenza of the 21st Century.

"We need answers to questions to help us prepare for this first outbreak and I think Sir Mark can help there."

The former MP's grandchildren have granted permission for his body to be exhumed.

Grandson Christopher Simon Sykes said: "We are all agreed that it is a very good thing, that it should go ahead.
"It is rather fascinating, (to think) that maybe even in his state as a corpse, he might be helping the world in some way."

.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Aristocrat's coffin could hold key to bird flu

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/01/nbflu01.xml

By Martin Beckford and Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 2:18am GMT 01/03/2007

The body of an English aristocrat who died almost 90 years ago is to be exhumed in the hope that it could help the fight against bird flu and other potential pandemics.

Sir Mark Sykes died of Spanish flu and was buried in a lead-lined coffin

Sir Mark Sykes, 6th baronet and owner of Sledmere House in Yorkshire, was killed by the Spanish flu virus in 1919, aged 39.

He had been working on the Versailles Peace Conference and was with his wife in a Paris hotel when he died.

Sir Mark was buried in St Mark's graveyard, at Sledmere, in a lead-lined coffin because the disease was so virulent. It killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

Now scientists, who have been looking for a sample of the virus, hope the preservative qualities of the metal coffin may mean samples of his DNA can still be taken.

They believe analysis of Sir Mark's genetic material could uncover new information about the H1N1 virus which killed him, and help to develop drugs to fight modern forms of the disease such as bird flu (H5N1).

John Oxford, the professor of virology at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospital who is leading the project, said: "At this point it looks quite encouraging.

"If we can get samples, that would be a wonderful opportunity for my team and for science in general.

"We can get answers to very important questions. This is not just history ? at the moment we are on the potential verge of the first great outbreak of influenza of the 21st century. We need answers to questions to help us prepare for this first outbreak and I think Sir Mark can help there."

In order to dig up Sir Mark's body, the researchers had to get permission from all of his relatives as well as those of his wife Edith Violet Sykes, who was buried with him.

The families agreed in the interests of science, as did a special court hearing in York.

Prof Oxford said yesterday that there were "a few hurdles" to cross with consent still required from the Health and Safety Executive and the Home Office.

He explained that although there were survivors of the 1919 outbreak, including his own parents, vital information would be contained in a preserved corpse.

"From a victim who has died at the time we can actually get a virus imprint, a genetic footprint. From living people all we can do is analyse their immune response."

Three bodies have previously been exhumed as part of an international research effort into the virus.

Prof Oxford said it could take up to six months before the latest work was carried out, providing the Home Office and Health and Safety Executive granted permission.

Sir Mark's grandson, the writer Christopher Simon Sykes, said: "It just so happened that because Sir Mark was buried in a lead coffin that there's a faint chance that they may be able to extract his DNA.

"He died in Paris and because Spanish flu was so virulent they buried him in a lead coffin.

"We are all agreed that it is a very good thing, that it should go ahead. It is rather fascinating, that maybe even in his state as a corpse, he might be helping the world in some way."

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1

he body of a British diplomat who died in 1919 of the Spanish flu, in a move they hope will provide vital clues on how to fight any future pandemic.

Experts see strong parallels between the H5N1 bird flu virus of today and the H1N1 virus of 1918/1919 which sparked the Spanish flu that killed more than 50 million people.

Both were deadly bird viruses which jumped directly to humans and any information that could be gleaned from the Spanish flu virus may help provide better understanding of the H5N1, which experts fear may unleash the next pandemic once it learns to transmit efficiently among people.

John Oxford, virology professor at the Royal London Hospital, said the family of Sir Mark Sykes -- a member of parliament who also served as a diplomat during World War I -- gave permission for the exhumation in late February.

Sykes' body is seen as especially important because it was buried in a sealed lead coffin which helps to preserve the body, Oxford said in an interview.

"The fact that he is in lead is the crucial point. From exhumations done in the U.K. by other people, people who are buried in lead can be very well preserved for 200 years," said Oxford, who was visiting Hong Kong to attend a medical conference.

"It has taken 15 months to get to where we are (obtaining permission from Sykes' family). I would say four, five months," he said when asked when the exhumation was likely to take place.

Oxford said Sykes probably caught the virus in the Middle East and he died shortly after arriving in Paris in early 1919. He was 39. His wife, who was also infected, survived.

VITAL INFORMATION

Through analysing tissue samples from Sykes' organs, Oxford's team hopes to uncover two pieces of information.

"Hopefully, if the body is intact, we would be able to get two other pieces of information. One is, did the virus spread to other organs? We know it's in the lungs, but did it spread to the brain, how widespread was it in the body?" Oxford said.

"The distribution of the virus in other organs is quite important. How is this virus distributed outside the respiratory tract? Is it entering the brain? If so, then we need to know if the drugs that we hope to use (to fight H5N1) also penetrate the brain. That's very practical."

Oxford's team also hopes to discover if the Spanish flu virus triggered an overreaction in Sykes' immune system -- or what is called a cytokine storm, when the immune system overreacts and causes an inflammation of the lungs and other organs that may end up killing the person.

It has been established that the H5N1 can cause such an overreaction, resulting in rapid death.

Oxford said: "What was (Sykes) response to the infection? Was there a cytokine storm which explained their rapid death?"

f the Spanish flu virus had triggered cytokine storms, then it could add weight to a recent proposal by some scientists that drugs be given to suppress slightly the immune system of bird flu victims.

"If the people died of an over-active immune system, then you ask the question, could we use a mild immuno-suppressive drug to reduce this over-reaction?" Oxford said.

He conceded, however, that this would be difficult.

"That is a tricky proposition because usually it is the immune response that protects you. If you reduce it you could make things worse, it is a delicate balance," he said.

 

[gsgs]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

no news on Sykes, but they exhumed 2 other 1918-bodies
from lead-coffins and others from permafrost in Svalbard,
they examine flu in the British army prior to 1918 and have
lung samples from 1908-1930.

We are eagerly waiting for (preliminary) results... (it's urgent !)


http://www.retroscreen.com/rv/oip/

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

The concurrent neurological syndrome epidemic around Europe between 1917/1922 leaves a few doubts that 'spanish flu' invaded brains of its victims.

Also in 1888/89 influenza pandemic, in some European countries people who caught influenza sometimes developed a characteristic neurological syndrome the so-called ''Nona''. The illness was so widespread that for example - in Italy the victims were hospitalized for life in unsanity asylum. The existence of these psychiatric institutions should be regarded as one of the worst heritage of this ancient pandemic. In the mid of '70 of last century, when a new law was emanated and the institutions were finally closed, more than 100,000 people were internated for decades.

 

[safran]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Hi ironorehopper, do you have a description of nona ?
Ive made researchs and I have a doubt : it seems to me, that nona could be von economo disease or some very close clinical entity.
I don't know what to think about etiology of von economo disease...


about von economo : people have seen the result of this disease in a film : "awakenings"

( Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born July 9, 1933, London), is a United States-based British neurologist who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro)

http://www.jneuropath.com/pt/re/jne...1lP8Cn9DF2DKvq37!1420013937!181195629!8091!-1


Experimenting on the Past: The Enigma of von Economo's Encephalitis Lethargica.

Articles
Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology. 60(7):663-670, July 2001.
REID, ANN H. MA; MCCALL, SHERMAN MD; HENRY, JAMES M. MD; TAUBENBERGER, JEFFERY K. MD, PhD

Abstract:
Encephalitis lethargica (EL) was a complex and mysterious disease that appeared around the same time as the great influenza pandemic of 1918. The contemporaneous relationship of the 2 diseases led to speculation that they were causally related. Contemporary and subsequent observers conjectured that the influenza virus, directly responsible for the deaths of more than 20 million people, might also have been the cause of EL. A review of the extensive literature by observers of the EL epidemic suggests that most contemporary clinicians, epidemiologists, and pathologists rejected the theory that the 1918 influenza virus was directly responsible for EL. Disappearance of the acute form of EL during the 1920s has precluded direct study of this entity. However, modern molecular biology techniques have made it possible to examine archival tissue samples from victims of the 1918 pandemic in order to detect and study the genetic structure of the killer virus. Similarly, tissue samples from EL victims can now be examined for evidence of infection by the 1918 influenza virus.

(C) 2001 American Association of Neuropathologists, Inc


http://www.baillement.com/lettres/vonecononmo-autoimmun.html
Encephalitis lethargica: part of a spectrum of post-streptococcal autoimmune diseases?
Brain January 2004; 127; 1; 2-3, Editorial
Angela Vincent
Neurosciences Group, Department of Clinical Neurology, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford UK

Encephalitis lethargica (EL) was first described by von Economo in 1917, shortly after the start of the 1916Ð1927 epidemic. The patients, mostly children of either sex, characteristically presented with headache and malaise, lethargy, insomnia, and ophthalmoplegia. Some recovered but the others either died during an acute fulminating disorder or developed, insidiously or after a variable period of time, movement and/or psychiatric disorders including Parkinsonism, oculogyric crises, chorea, myoclonus, mutism, catatonia or behavioural problems. Although linked by many observers to the influenza epidemic, the epidemic of EL began earlier and lasted longer, and flu virus has not been found in archival post-mortem tissue (e.g. McCall et al., 2001; Lo and Geddes, 2003). Sporadic cases are still reported, but the acute fulminating form seems to have disappeared, and there have been no further reported epidemics.

SNIP


Pr John Oxford made research about EL and influenza :

Lo KC, Geddes JF, Daniels RS, Oxford JS. Lack of detection of influenza genes in archived formalin-fixed, paraffin wax-embedded brain samples of encephalitis lethargica patients from 1916 to 1920. Virchows Arch 2003; 442: 591-6.


another article
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/opinion/edsacks.php
Waking to a new threat
Avian flu
Oliver Sacks and Joel A. Vilensky
Published: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2005

Everyone is wondering if the bird-flu virus will mutate and cause an outbreak of influenza comparable to the 1918 pandemic, which killed more than 25 million people. But there is an additional possibility - that the bird flu, if it comes, may bring more than influenza.

The influenza pandemic of 1918 was followed by another epidemic. The disease was encephalitis lethargica, or the "sleepy sickness," and like influenza it spread through most of the world. Its symptoms were extraordinarily varied - most commonly there was lethargy, but sometimes there was insomnia, and even frenzy; sometimes there were paralyses, sometimes mental disorders.

It seemed at first as if a dozen different epidemics had sprung up at once, and it was only through the work of a great Austrian doctor, Constantin von Economo, that all these varied symptoms were recognized to be manifestations of a single disease, the one Economo named "encephalitis lethargica."

Of the million or so people who came down with encephalitis lethargica in this period, half a million died in the acute stages of the illness; most of the survivors, people who appeared to have recovered, went on to develop, sometimes decades later, a variety of neurological problems, including a crippling form of parkinsonism.

New York was especially hard-hit by the disease, and as a result it became the world center for vaccine trials, all of which failed. The sickness so exercised the medical community that an estimated 9,000 articles and books were written on it from 1917 to 1939.


But after this it largely vanished from medical and popular consciousness alike - no cure or causative agent had ever been found, and most of the remaining survivors were housed in chronic-care hospitals and forgotten.

In fact, it would take several decades for the disease to become of serious interest again. When the drug L-dopa was introduced in the 1960s to treat "ordinary" Parkinson's disease, it was also tried on patients who had the far more severe form of post-encephalitic parkinsonism. Many of these patients "awoke" and did spectacularly well for a while, but the effects of L-dopa then faded, and the patients returned to their trance-like states.

The relationship of encephalitis lethargica to the 1918 influenza epidemic is unclear, but we can no longer afford to remain ignorant about it. Economo saw similarities between encephalitis lethargica and a neurological disease - the "nona" - which broke out in Italy just after a flu epidemic in 1889 and 1890.

Later research has indeed suggested a recurring association, since the time of Hippocrates, between flu epidemics and encephalitis-like diseases. In 1982 it was shown that irregularly spaced waves of influenza-pneumonia deaths in Seattle during the early 20th century epidemic were followed approximately one year later by corresponding waves of encephalitis fatalities.

After the arrival of the influenza pandemic via ship passengers in Western Samoa in 1918, fatal cases of encephalitis were reported for several subsequent years. In contrast, American Samoa, which is only 32 miles away, maintained a strict quarantine and avoided the 1918 influenza epidemic. There were no encephalitis lethargica deaths there until 1926, following a later influenza epidemic.

No funds have been allocated to try to better understand this mysterious disease and its relationship to epidemic influenza. Encephalitis lethargica is particularly insidious because it is so variable; any early cases in a new outbreak would almost certainly be misdiagnosed as they were 100 years ago.

It is not unlikely that this disease will return, perhaps with the imminent influenza epidemic, perhaps not. Regardless, we would do well to re-awaken ourselves to what may be a formidable gathering threat.

 

[safran]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

about Nona :

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030526.wchp0526/BNStory/Front/


And finally, past pandemics of encephalitis have been recorded in close association with other influenza epidemics; for example, the great influenza epidemic of 1889—90 preceded the notorious 'nona' — a severe somnolent illness that was followed by Parkinsonism in almost all survivors.30 Deniers of links between the two diseases would, however, probably plead that von Economo himself found no relationship. In 1931, he wrote, 'The first cases (of encephalitis lethargica) occurred as early as 1915 and settle once and for all the fact that encephalitis appeared certainly two and possibly three years before the first appearance of the influenza epidemic.'23

Furthermore, influenza was highly communicable from person to person, whereas encephalitis was remarkably noncommunicable. Nor did all cases of encephalitis lethargica have a history of preceding influenza infection. Finally, not all influenza epidemics are associated with epidemic encephalitis.30

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Re: Dead aristocrat's hidden flu clue

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/humber/7617968.stm

Body exhumed in fight against flu

The body of an aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago has been exhumed in the hope that it will help scientists combat a future flu pandemic.

Yorkshire landowner Sir Mark Sykes died in France in 1919 from Spanish flu.

Sir Mark was buried in a lead coffin which scientists hope may have helped preserve the virus.

They believe his remains will help piece together the DNA of Spanish flu, which could have a similar genetic structure to modern bird flu.

This knowledge, added to major breakthroughs by American scientists last year, could help prevent a modern pandemic through the development of new drugs.

A church court covering the Diocese of York has authorised the exhumation of the body of Sir Mark, who owned historic Sledmere House near Driffield, after permission was given by his grandchildren.

His body will have to be examined in a special air-tight laboratory to avoid any risk of contamination.

Death toll

Researchers from BBC One's Inside Out programme have tracked down contemporary records of Sir Mark's funeral at St Mary's Church, Sledmere, and other archive documents to help a medical team from St Barts and the Royal London Hospitals.

Sir Mark died towards the end of the Spanish flu outbreak which killed more than 50 million people when it took hold at the end of World War I. The death toll was compounded by large population movements during the war.

Sir Mark, who was also a politician tipped as a future prime minister and a diplomat, was working for the government in the Middle East where he helped draw up the national boundaries that still exist in the region today.

He sailed home from Syria via London, where it is thought he contracted the virus, and died on 16 February at the Hotel Lotti during peace negotiations in Paris.

 

[mixin]

BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Flu-ridden politician's body exhumed by scientists

The body of a politician buried almost 90 years ago has been exhumed from a churchyard in East Yorkshire by scientists who hope it can help prevent a flu pandemic. Sir Mark Sykes, also a landowner and diplomat, died in France in 1919 from a flu that swept the world killing 50 million people.

Because he was buried in a lead-lined coffin, specialists are hoping vital clues about the disease will have been preserved.

The exhumation took place at the church of St Mary's in Sledmere last week.
Led by virologist Professor John Oxford, from Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, the team took tissue samples before the body was re-interred in a short ceremony conducted by the Rev Mike Smith, rural dean of Driffield.

The exhumation needed the approval of the aristocrat's surviving relatives, the Church of England, the Ministry of Justice, and the Health and Safety Executive.

The scientists wore sealed suits with a filtered air supply to screen out any possibility of the virus escaping.

BBC Yorkshire's Inside Out recorded the event the film will be aired on Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Programme editor Ian Cundall said: "This knowledge could help prevent a modern pandemic."
http://www.beverleyguardian.co.uk/l...dden-politician39s-body-exhumed-by.4496683.jp

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: BBC Wed @ 7:30pm 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC Wed @ 7:30pm 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Short news video here. (advert on first)

There was a split in coffin.

90% of organs intact.

They get a brain sample.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/humber/7617968.stm

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: BBC Wed @ 7:30pm 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC Wed @ 7:30pm 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Sir Mark Sykes

<!--lead container name-->The key to stopping a flu pandemic?


The body of an East Yorkshire aristocrat has been exhumed in the search for information to prevent another flu pandemic. Inside Out has been following the story of how the politician and diplomat could hold vital clues to help stop the disease.

<!--content container-->Inside Out's Ian Cundall explains how the programme got involved...

The first law of journalism is that there's no such thing as useless information? some of the biggest stories Inside Out has ever covered have come from someone putting together two apparently unrelated scraps of information.

Inside Out's Ian Cundall

So my ears pricked up one morning in 2005 when I heard Sir John Oxford, one of the world's leading experts on flu, appealing on Radio 4 for anyone who might know of a victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic who had also been buried in lead.

It so happened I thought I did.

The Wolds Waggoners

Nearly 20 years earlier I'd covered the story of one of the UK's last private armies, raised by aristocrat Sir Mark Sykes from the men of his East Yorkshire estate.

The Wolds Waggoners transported supplies to the Somme battflefield in their traditional horse drawn waggons during WW1.

Sir Mark Sykes

Sir Mark Sykes was born into a wealthy family in 1879.

His family home was at Sledmere in East Yorkshire.

He served in the Second Boer War.

He travelled extensively around the world including the Middle East, India, and North America.

In 1912 he became the Conservative MP for Hull Central.

He worked for Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, advising the Cabinet on Middle Eastern affairs and his work led to the creation of the Arab Bureau.

He was an important figure in discussions about the future of the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. He negotiated the Sykes-Picot agreement which helped to shape the foundations of modern Turkey.

He died in France in 1919 from Spanish Flu.


I interviewed four of the survivors (now, sadly, long dead) and filmed their memorial for regional TV news.

But the thing that stuck in my mind was the fact that their founder, Sir Mark, had not been allowed to lead them to war.

He'd been sent off to work for the diplomatic service and died of flu in Paris in 1919.
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• Find out more about flu pandemics >

I knew his body had been shipped home - and considering the family's wealth and the highly contagious nature of 1919 influenza, there had to be a good chance he'd been given a lead coffin.

Extraordinary hunt

I called Professor Oxford and that's how Inside Out become part of one of the most extraordinary hunts of medical history.

For three and a half years we followed every twist and turn in the laborious process to obtain consent for an exhumation.

Sir Mark's grandson, Sir Tatton Sykes, proved to be the easiest person to convince - he takes an enthusiastic interest in science.

The church courts, the Health and Safety Executive, the Ministry of Justice and numerous other public bodies took longer to win over.

Confirmation of a lead coffin

The hardest thing to establish was that Sir Mark had indeed been buried in lead.

Ground penetrating radar was inconclusive and Inside Out's French-speaking researchers, Christine Hamill and Lucy Smickersgill, had little luck with the undertakers of Paris.

In the end the proof came from an unlikely source - Sir Tatton himself flicked through the extraordinarily detailed scrapbook his family keep at Sledmere house and came across a report of the funeral from a long-folded tabloid.

It included a picture of soldiers straining to lower an obviously extremely heavy coffin into the ground, with a caption describing it as "leaden".

And so it proved? when the gravediggers reached Sir Mark's coffin on 8 September 2008, it was indeed made of lead.

Could save millions of lives

Sadly it had been perforated and the research team was denied the perfectly preserved body they wanted.

Luckily, there was enough tissue remaining for them to take samples.

It was third time lucky for the exhumation team - the two previous bodies they'd dug up had proved to have been buried in wood or zinc, despite their families having been charged for lead.

It'll be months before we know whether Sir Mark's exhumation has taken the battle to prevent another flu pandemic any further.

But I'm proud Inside Out has been part of a project that - without exaggeration - could one day help save millions of lives.

And I still don't think there's any such thing as useless information

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2008/09/15/yorks_lincs_s14_w1_flu_feature.shtml

 

[mixin]

Airing again

Airing again

The exhumation features as part of the documentary In Search of Spanish 'Flu, which will be shown nationally on BBC4 at 8pm on Monday October 6.

http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/Sir-Mark-Sykes-helps-in.4545936.jp

 

[gsgs]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

any prediction, which sequences we will get ?
All 8 segments as with Brevig mission ?
Just HA ? full or partial ?

will it be made public ? who decides ?
and if yes, when ?

and why had this not been asked in public yet ?
At least I couldn't find it and I consider it strange
how they avoid these questions.
Is it "tasteless" in English culture to ask this ?

Why did it take so long after the first announcement ?
Isn't time an important issue with possible H5N1-panflu ?

(Oxford doesn't reply on email)

now they are doing increased public coverage, it will be interesting
whether/how they avoid these issues.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

The show is served.

And the science credibility as well.

Is it a science(fiction) tv-show?

How far will these researcher go with the only guide of their ambition?

I think this is an unethical behavior.

 

[gsgs]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

why is it unethical ? Noone is hurt.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

why is it unethical ? Noone is hurt.

The show of a heavily funded ''science'' is the worst damage to science credibility when a huge amount of researchers rest in peace into sub-financed institutes around the world... But in the meantime, they may assist to tv-show...

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

The documentary is used to accurately educate people as to what has been happening and was was done in a tasteful manner with the full consent of the people concerned.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Are you not seeing somewhat disturbing in this event?

Is it needed a tv-show about the exhumation of a renowned spanish flu victim?

Is the choice of an important man itself a sign of a spectacularization of science?

Other researchers around the world are fighting for funding in other almost crucial studies on severe diseases and are badly hit by economic crisis and cut of national investments.

I continue to think that a more frugal, non-fictional science is more advisable and affordable for the mind of the masses.

 

[gsgs]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

you mean Oxford et al are abusing the media to get more attention, more funding ?
Who initiated the TV-article ?

I do see these intends all over the press-releases
And even the papers :
the introduction typically highlites/exaggerates the importance of the issue.
And rarely do they miss the hint that more research on that issue is needed.

 

[mixin]

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

Re: BBC: 1918 Exhumation and Sampling to be Aired

I know nothing about the BBC network; but when we have Public Broadcasting Service documentaries here, I usually find them very credible. I would love to be able to see this one on Spanish Flu.

An exhumation takes many legal steps and that's likely why so many months have passed since it was first announced.