Posted on 06/04/2006 4:33:03 PM PDT by blam
The Deadly Virus
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
True or False? The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 killed more people than died in World War One.
Hard as it is to believe, the answer is true.
World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.
The plague emerged in two phases. In late spring of 1918, the first phase, known as the "three-day fever," appeared without warning. Few deaths were reported. Victims recovered after a few days. When the disease surfaced again that fall, it was far more severe. Scientists, doctors, and health officials could not identify this disease which was striking so fast and so viciously, eluding treatment and defying control. Some victims died within hours of their first symptoms. Others succumbed after a few days; their lungs filled with fluid and they suffocated to death.
The plague did not discriminate. It was rampant in urban and rural areas, from the densely populated East coast to the remotest parts of Alaska. Young adults, usually unaffected by these types of infectious diseases, were among the hardest hit groups along with the elderly and young children. The flu afflicted over 25 percent of the U.S. population. In one year, the average life expectancy in the United States dropped by 12 years.
It is an oddity of history that the influenza epidemic of 1918 has been overlooked in the teaching of American history. Documentation of the disease is ample, as shown in the records selected from the holdings of the National Archives regional archives. Exhibiting these documents helps the epidemic take its rightful place as a major disaster in world history.
bmp
My mother's older sister, aged 14, died from this flu epidemic.
The 1918 influenza epidemic struck my grandfather's household on their rural North Dakota homestead. Two of his younger brothers died of the disease on the very same night (December 28, 1918). One of them had been born only a week earlier; the other was 5 years old. My grandfather (then aged 14), his older sister, and their mother all nearly perished that same night as well, but they survived.
It is almost impossible to comprehend.
My grandmother died in Baltimore, MD, in 1918 of the "Spanish Flu". I am very leery of this new "bird flu".
"Two German spies, posing as doctors, were caught giving these influenza germs to the soldiers and they were shot last Saturday morning at sunrise."
What a different world today.
My grandfather's sister died in this epidemic. I think she was around 9. My family still talks about it a lot. And in the old cemetary in the town she lived in, there are a lot of 1918-era graves. It was a huge tragedy that touched a lot of families.
You can prepare for the bird flu in a way that they couldn't. If you are concerned, talk to your doctor about a few prescriptions of tamiflu or relenza (if they still make that one.) Also, a prescription of broad spectrum antibiotics might be a good idea. Many were not killed by the virus but rather by secondary bacterial infections. I have a box of relenza from around 2001 that I have been holding on to. I know it has some side effects for some people, but I was on it in 2000 or so and it made the flu more managable and less dangerous. Perhaps planning ahead now before the supply crunch of a pandemic might be the best course of action.
Both my parents (bless their souls), were one year old in 1918, both survived the flu.
My great-uncle and namesake, from Rockville MD, died of it just days after having been inducted into the Navy. His portrait hangs in my office.
sw
Tell me. I study anthropology/archaeology and am a catastrophist. I find myself reflecting on how good we have often these days.
In 1918 children would skip rope to the rhyme...
I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.
John Barry's book is decent reading.
bump
I believe the war was "called" on account of the flu. Everyone was running out of fighting age men.
Some notes from two different sources:
"The influenza of 1918-1919 was a influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% ..."
From another source:
"Avian influenza is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. ... and has a mortality rate that can reach 90-100% often within 48 hours. ..."
I've also read where the experts expect (hope?) the avian flu moratlity rate will decrease IF it ever goes human to human.
ping for an historical perspective...
My parents were born in 1913 and 1917....sometimes I feel real lucky to be here!
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