Three of the four influenza pandemics in the twentieth century had onsets that followed Venus inferior conjunctions by 30 to 60 days. (Venus comes around every 584 days.) The onset delay of the 1957-1958 pandemic is not so well-resolved, but the upper limit is on the order of 210 days.
(See Sunspot Activity, Venus Inferior Conjunctions, and Biological Events.)

Donald Barber speculated that his invading bacteria actually originated in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Hoyle's colleagues think their recently captured high-altitude bacteria are from outer space but offer the alternative possibility that the bacteria might be living in Earth's upper atmosphere and get diffused to the surface under the right conditions. In the case in point solar wind perturbations or turbulence associated with Venus inferior conjunctions might produce the atmospheric mobility mechanism. Barber identified two precursors to his bacterial invasions, (1) a Venus inferior conjunction accompanied by (2) a strong geomagnetic storm.

At 1015 Universal Time (UT) on 29 March 2001 the sun produced an intense X-class Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) which gobbled up a lesser CME from the day before and reached Earth at 0100 UT on 31 March. At approximately 0400 UT 30 March (on the day in-between) Venus passed through inferior conjunction.

It wouldn't, of course, be prudent to make predictions about what this combination of events might lead to, some 30 to 60 days from March 30. On the other hand, if really out-of-the-ordinary viral (not necessarily influenza) and/or bacterial outbreaks do occur in pockets around the globe during that timeframe, then we might opt to examine the Venus connection hypothesis more closely.

U.S.A.

World wide:

Europe :

Canada:

Africa:

(The following section title and three paragraphs were installed on 8 May 2001. There was a slight revision on 20 May followed by an improvement in "flow" on 5 July 2001.)

Open plea to readers, physicians and epidemiologists.

Please recall that the initial outbreaks of the 1918-1919 influenza occurred in the spring of 1918 (30 days following a Venus inferior conjunction) and were relatively mild, mortality-wise. In the fall of 1918 a second wave hit with a vengeance. It was as though the virus took a few months to be modified into its deadly form. People who got the early version were immune to the later deadly form. See Chapter 3 of Gina Kolata's book Flu(1). (Reference (1) was added on 8 August 2001 in response to a reader's inquiry..) (The phrase "be modified" was used to replace the words "mutate (reassort)" on 13 April 2002.)

It might be wise to make special efforts to obtain appropriate samples from people experiencing these currently ongoing illnesses to determine if the "causal agents" are recognizable terrestrial baddies. If they are not then now would be a good time to start preparing vaccines for a potential second wave.

Saturday 14 April 2001
Financial Times Information - Global News Wire
Pakistan
Influenza from a new form of flu virus is spreading in the Pakistan seaport city of Karachi. Throat ailments and tonsils infections noted in particular. (LNAU - Medical. - Search Term: flu)

22 - 28 April 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
Chile - First seasonal report of Sporadic Influenza Like Illnesses

[Northern hemisphere readers please recall that May in the Southern hemisphere is like November in the Northern hemisphere.]

29 April - 5 May 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
New Zealand - First seasonal report of Sporadic Influenza Like Illnesses

05 May 2001
United States
First cases in 2001 of West Nile Virus (in birds) are reported in Connecticut and Maryland.
USGS Center for Integration of Natural Disaster Information (CINDI) - 4 March 2001.
(This entry was added on 11 August 2002.)

Sunday 6 May 2001
The Edmonton Sun
Calgary, Alberta - Canada
Mystery illness spreads from school children to family members. 179 students and staff at Elizabeth Barrett elementary school in Calgary became suddenly sick on Wednesday 2 May with vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.Lightning-fast stomach flu was believed to be blame. City water system ruled out as source. Diarrhea generally lasts 24 hours. (LNAU - World News - Search Term: influenza - 29 May 2002.)

Monday 7 May 2001 - This article was replaced on 29 May 2002 by an expanded summary with a dateline of 11 May 2001.

Tuesday 8 May 2001
South Africa's Flu Alert
Influenza isolates have been made at the National Institute for Virology since the middle of April. Both influenza A(H3N2) and influenza B viruses are circulating in South Africa. The influenza activity is unusually early this year as the flu season most frequently only begins in May.

10 - 13 May 2001
Kazakhstan
Information received via personal e-mail on 16 May.
On May 10-13th the television of Alma-Ata reported that an epidemic of an unidentified influenza has passed. The illness starts with a cough, a high temperature runs and dyspnea [difficult or labored breathing] develops. The illness is treated badly by conventional drugs. Also it is not treated by antibiotics. Children are sick more often [than adults].
[I have yet to find a news wire reference to this.]

Friday 11 May 2001
St. John's Telegram
North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada
Community struggles to cope with cryptosporidium parasites that have crippled 52 residents and 74 visitors with cramps and diarrhea and have shut down businesses. Most residents thought they had been having a bout with the flu. Outbreak occurred just before Easter (which was April 15th). Questions as to how water supply became contaminated and why it took so long to have the problem identified are widespread. (LNAU - World News - Search Term: influenza. - 29 May 2002)

13 - 19 May 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
Chile - Upgraded from Sporadic to Local Outbreak for Influenza Like Illnesses

Tuesday 15 May 2001
Flu Alert
South Africa
Influenza isolates have been made at the National Institute for Virology since the middle of April. Both influenza A(H3N2) and influenza B viruses are circulating in South Africa. Influenza activity is sporadic at this stage. (See the 21 May entry below.)

Thursday 17 May 2001
China
Isolation of influenza A(H5N1) virus in poultry in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
of China - (From WHO's CSR link above.) "No human cases of H5N1 virus have been detected. The strains isolated from the birds differ genetically from the H5N1 virus which caused human disease in 1997."

Thursday 17 May 2001
The Pacific Dust Express - NASA
North America has been sprinkled with a dash of Asia! A dust cloud from China crossed the Pacific Ocean recently and rained Asian dust from Alaska to Florida.
While much of the dust cloud remains over the Pacific Ocean, the leading edge has reached as far east as the American Midwest by April 13.
[April 13 was the date that the rash of "digestive system" problems began occurring near Columbus, Mississippi, U.S.A. I offer the suggestion that the settling Asian dust particles may have been responsible for the arrival of the stomach bugs, regardless of their ultimate origin. It will be interesting to find out whether or not similar illnesses began occurring geographically between the U.S. West coast and the central U.S. a day or so before April 13th.]

20 - 26 May 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
New Zealand - Upgraded from Sporadic to Local Oubreak for Influenza Like Illnesses

Monday 21 May 2001
Note from the Director of South Africa's National Institute of Virology.
Despite what the [South Africa] Flu Alert may say there is no influenza activity in our region that we are aware of at present. The few isolates that were made do not represent circulation of virus and other monitoring parameters of influenza have not revealed any influenza activity as yet.

Wednesday 23 May 2001
Financial Times Information - Global News Wire - Adrianus Hiyung Tjung
Indonesia
A Jakarta Indonesia writer describes the plight of "a lot of people" that are being infected by cold and flu viruses. The viruses seem to circulate from person to person and back again. "They won't go away."
(LNAU - Medical. - Search Term: flu) [For things that won't go away see the graphical summaries and comments that start on 29 May 2002 on the Influenza A(H1N2) page. Added 29 June 2002.]

Friday 25 May 2001
Note to readers
The non-circulation aspect of the South African influenza isolates (21 May entry above) is consistent with Hoyle and Wickramasinghe's hypothesis that influenza arriving from extraterrestrial sources tends to get deposited in more-or-less localized patches and does not spread easily from person to person. See The Dilemma of Influenza.

Friday 25 May 2001
AAP Information Services Pt. Ltd. AAP Newsfeed - Nadine Rofail
Australia
Thousands of Australians are being hit by winter viruses whose flu-like symptoms last about ten days but the illnesses are not properly described as influenza.
(LNAU - Wires - Search Term: influenza)

27 May - 2 June 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
Chile - Upgraded from Local Outbreak to Regional Outbreak for Influenza Like Illnesses.
New Zealand - Upgraded from Local Outbreak to Regional Outbreak for Influenza Like Illnesses.

Monday 28 May 2001
AAP Information Services Pty. Ltd. AAP Newsfeed - Rada Rouse
Australia
Flu like illnesses (para-influenza viruses) are taking their toll in Australia. WHO representative says that there's no evidence of any strains which are not covered in this year's vaccine.

3 - 9 June 2001
FluNet Global Influenza Surveillance Network (WHO)
Chile - Upgraded from Regional Outbreak to Widespread Outbreak for Influenza Like Illnesses.
[Activity remained at this level through the week of 24 - 30 June 2001.]

Friday 8 June 2001
Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Report
Acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in Kosovo
[Haemorrhagic fever is similar to the final stages of the 1918 influenza.]
The WHO Office in Kosovo has reported 27 cases and 4 deaths between 18 May and 7 June 2001 in the south-western area. ...
[Haemorrhagic fever was a real problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina between December 1994 and May 1995. Venus passed through inferior conjunction on or about 5 November 1994.]

Monday 11 June 2001
Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Report
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Kosovo - Update
The etiology of the disease reported on 8 June has now been laboratory confirmed as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). The WHO Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Haemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research in Ljubljana, Slovenia, . . . reported to WHO on 9 June that multiple samples received late on 8 June were positive when tested by PCR and anti-CCHF virus IgM assays. . . .
See WHO's Fact Sheet on Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever.

Thursday 14 June 2001
U. S. Geological Survey News Release
Microbes and the dust they ride in on pose potential health risks
Potentially hazardous bacteria and fungi catch a free ride across the Atlantic, courtesy of North African dust plumes. Government researchers who made the discovery believe the stowaway microbes might pose a health risk to people in the western Atlantic region.

Thursday 14 June 2001
Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Report
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Kosovo - Update 2
To date, 44 case alerts have been notified ... 12 have been confirmed

Monday 18 June 2001
Mobile Homes for Microbes Science at NASA
African dust that crosses the Atlantic and brings beautiful sunsets to Florida also carries potentially harmful bacteria and fungi, a new study shows.

Wednesday 20 June 2001
Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Report
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in Kosovo - Update 4
"For the period 18-19 June, 3 new suspected cases were registered. From May 18, 2001 to June 19, 2001, 57 suspected CCHF cases were registered, out of which 4 have died. . . ."

The following link was added on 24 March 2002.

Summary of Selected disease events: April - June 2001. This document was published on 1 July 2001 by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Center for Emerging Issues.