Does La Nina Fuel Flu Pandemics?
By Andrew Freedman It often seems like weather forecasters blame everything unusual on El Niño or La Niña, be it a drought, a heat wave, or a snowless winter. But this natural climate cycle in the equatorial Pacific Ocean may actually have much greater — and far deadlier — impacts. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explores the possibility that La Niña helps make conditions more favorable for deadly global flu pandemics. The study finds that the past four flu pandemics, including the Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957, the Hong Kong…
