Posted on 12/27/2018 1:55:24 PM PST by Red Badger
‘In the winter of 1918-1919, a flu pandemic affected 500 million people and killed between 40 million and 70 million. ’
In the autumn of 1918, a global influenza outbreak began that would claim more lives than World War I (or the Great War). The war itself, which ended in November 1918, had a significant impact on how the virus spread around the world – and even influenced the name Spanish Flu.
Soldiers from Fort Riley, Kansas, ill with Spanish influenza at a hospital ward at Camp Funston (US Army Photographer)
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There was nothing particular ‘Spanish’ about the flu: it didn’t begin in Spain and, while the country was badly affected, it wasn’t hit any harder than others. (The first wave spread in US military camps in 1917.)
However, Spain remained neutral during the conflict and its papers freely reported the outbreak. Media in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and elsewhere played down the impact on their own country in a bid to keep up morale. Newspapers were either directly controlled by national governments or keen to self-censor in the interest of patriotism at a time of war. They all happily reported on events in Spain – leading many to incorrectly presume that the Iberian Peninsula was the epicentre.
In summer of 1918, the virus spread among military units who lived in cramped quarters. And, as the war ended, surviving solders returned home – bringing influenza with them.
After four gruelling years of conflict, the immediate post-war period was a time for celebration. Public gatherings present an ideal opportunity for infectious diseases to find new victims. This most likely prolonged the second wave of the outbreak.
A third wave in the early spring of 1919 took war-weary populations by surprise, claiming millions more lives. Just as with seasonal influenza, the worst-hit populations were the very old and the very young. However, in comparison to a typical flu epidemic, there was a major spike in the 25-34 age group. Many soldiers who survived the trenches, did not survive the flu. Some returning soldiers shared the lethal virus with their spouses, also helping to push up the fatality rate in young adults.
There are a number of other reasons why the proportion of deaths among young adults was higher than normal. For one thing, the older population had partial immunity from the 1889-1890 flu pandemic (known as Russian flu).
The virus has also been shown to have triggered what is known as a ‘cytokine storm’ – an immune response that can be particularly severe in those with stronger immune systems.
The worst-affected group of all were pregnant women. Of the pregnant women who survived, over one quarter is estimated to have lost the child.
(Pregnant women are the #1 priority for flu vaccination, according to the WHO.)
During the 1918-1919 pandemic, researchers tried to develop a vaccine. According to the History of Vaccines project, a number of vaccines were tested against Bacillus influenzae (now known as Haemophilus influenzae) as well as strains of pneumococcus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and Moraxella catarrhalis bacteria. These bacterial vaccines had no chance of stopping the pandemic which, we now know, was caused by a new strain of the influenza A virus. Where are we now?
In the 100 years since the Spanish flu outbreak, there have been four influenza pandemics: 1957-1958, 1968-1969, 1977-1978, and 2009-2010. None were as lethal as the 1918 outbreak.
However, annual outbreaks of seasonal influenza cause between 290,000 and 650,000 deaths per year globally. The death rates are lower because (a) vaccines are available (b) healthcare and hygiene is vastly superior than conditions a century ago and (c) the viruses that cause seasonal flu are less dangerous – and less likely to be fatal to those infected.
Nonetheless, flu viruses can change from one year to the next. Experts continue to worry that a new flu virus could some day emerge with the potential to cause the kind of destruction seen in 1918.
The WHO is warning that low uptake of seasonal flu vaccines in Europe, is leaving vulnerable people at risk should an outbreak occur. Fewer than one third of older people are vaccinated in half of the 53 countries making up the WHO’s European region.
In fact, vaccination rates among high-risk groups have fallen in the years since the 2009-2010 pandemic.
‘Vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent severe disease caused by influenza. However, according to our research, influenza vaccination uptake has been steadily declining in a number of countries in the European Region,’ says Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe. ‘This is of serious concern now for people at higher risk of severe consequences, especially older people, and in the future potentially for the entire population, as the production of pandemic vaccines is closely linked to seasonal vaccine use.’
In the EU, health ministers have set a target of vaccinating 75% of citizens in high-risk groups. With the exception of the UK and the Netherlands who have met this goal and are consistently above or close to the target, most EU countries are a long way from reaching their goal.
‘All European Union Member States have signed up to the goal of reaching 75% uptake among older people and other vulnerable groups; however, these targets are not being reached,’ says Dr Andrea Ammon, Director of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
As we prepare to mark the centenary of the worst flu pandemic in recorded history, it is time to step up efforts to improve flu vaccine uptake.
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Older people at higher risk of death from influenza
The WHO estimates that over 44,000 people die annually of respiratory diseases associated with seasonal influenza in the WHO European Region, out of a total of up to 650,000 global deaths.
According to annual surveys for the ECDC and WHO, although 34,000 (over 75%) of these deaths in Europe are among people aged 65 years or above, vaccine uptake remains low in this group. Half the countries in the WHO European Region are vaccinating fewer than one in three older people.
As for the other at-risk groups:
vaccination was generally recommended for people with chronic illnesses; however, coverage was below 40% in most countries; almost all countries recommended influenza vaccination for health-care workers, but the majority reported influenza vaccine uptake as being as low as 40%; in total, 90% of countries had vaccine recommendations for pregnant women in 2014/2015, compared with 40% before the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic; however, coverage overall was low, with half the countries reporting uptake below 10%; fewer than half the countries, most of them in eastern Europe, recommended influenza vaccination for young children; vaccination coverage ranged from less than 1% to 80%.
True but people who were vaccinated (had the flu in the Spring) were immune
Notwithstanding all the nonsense , vaccines have been responsible for eradicating diseases that in the past killed or crippled millions on millions of people worldwide. There is always a tiny risk whenever a vaccine is given but the benefits far far outweigh the risks, not only to the individual but to the society as a whole. Keep in mind that herd immunity decreases, and the risk to the entire population thus increases, when individuals opt not to get vaccinated. Thus, it truly is not an individual choice affecting no one else but the individual that refuses to get vaccinated.
LOL, Yup, boy is that ever a relief! < BG >
Your post sure sounds like Central Planning, government usurpation of individual choice, and totalitarianism.
This same argument could be applied to government control of anything - and the loss of freedom.
There is no justifiable reason to limit your argument to just vaccines.
Apply the same sentences to free speech, economic freedom, gun rights, etc. and see how it sounds to you.
I reject those arguments as anti-constructional and anti- freedom.
Here is an over the counter (OTC) formula that inhibits some of the major inflammatory mediators, and is now being suggested as a way to stave off ARD. All four factors must be included.
1a) A prescription ACE-2 inhibitor anti-hypertension drug. -or-
1b) If unavailable, 15,000 IU of Vitamin D* (Note: 15,000 IU is a huge dose of Vitamin D, a fat soluble vitamin. This means excess Vitamin D is stored in the liver, rather being excreted. The half life of Vitamin D is roughly three weeks, and Vitamin D toxicity can cause serious problems)
2) Histamine-1 blocker. Benedryl or the equivalent.
3) Histamine-2 blocker. Tagamet or the equivalent (normally used to block acid reflux.)
4) Ibuprofen. Advil or the equivalent, a prostaglandin blocker.
In addition, it is also recommended to maintain just the MDAR of Vitamin A. Being short of Vitamin A is associated with having an excess of a very powerful inflammatory mediator called TNF-1. But it is easy to take too much Vitamin A, which is toxic. High doses of the provitamin Beta-carotene, which the body converts to Vitamin A, might work as well as straight Vitamin A, and are much less toxic.
Care should be taken to avoid “health foods” that can artificially enhance the immune system, something to be avoided when there is the prospect of ARD.
This was extracted from an earlier thread I’ve lost track of, with some comments on Vitamin D from NautiNurse added, and a flat out guess on Beta Carotene from me...
27 posted on 8/27/2009, 8:51:20 PM by null and void
null and void, do you know the source of this suggested drug melange?
As I said: This was extracted from an earlier thread I’ve lost track of...
Also please notice that this is a proposed treatment for the cytokine storm, not for the underlying flu itself.
I'm not a doctor, I'm not prescribing, I'm merely passing on some information that real doctors think would be helpful, I've incorporated NautiNurse's caveat, and will add yours as well.
Me personally? I've stocked up on Vit D, Beta Carotene, Tagamet, Benedryl and Advil. (Your diet is far better than mine!)
I suggest you do the same. Not because I'm prescribing them, but because IF the research pans out, AND the flu proves to induce cytokine storms/ARD these substances will be in VERY short supply.
You put it very concisely here:
Please, everyone, do not indiscriminately ingest real drugs that have real effects that could, especially in combination, put you at risk that is far greater than the risk of this influenza. At the very least, consult a physician, first.
To which I'd add, please, everyone, have these on hand should the need become manifest.
It's very cheap insurance.
88 posted on 8/28/2009, 12:45:06 PM by null and void
“Smallpox exists in two laboratories and no where else.
It is no longer a threat to the world.”
Wanna bet?
L
Heh.. I was whistling that while the Find utility was looking for the files.
Well put.
My elevated blood pressure was related not to my age, but to my intermittent but continual use of low doses of ibuprofen. I stopped taking it (it was for chronic neck pain) and my BP is back near my younger self's. Additional sidebars:
my understanding is..
doctors often wear a special mask
that keeps them safe during epidemics.
perhaps more people should do so
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beak_doctor_costume
With all the anti-vaccination people out there a pandemic of something becomes more and more likely. Smallpox would be horrible.
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Smallpox vaccinations ceased in 1972. It was considered eradicated. However, we know that some countries have kept it in their bio-vaults. It would make a terrific bio terrorist weapon in the wrong hands.
Given the mutations of viruses, with the flu, it is hard to get an effective vaccine. While I did get the pneumonia vaccine, I never get the flu vaccine. I just stay home and avoid crowded places. Try to have good hygiene. Usually works.
I've not heard anything good about the flu vaccine. I'll never get one.
Thanks for the ping.
But, in 1976, we were warned that the Spanish Flu would re-emerge as the SWINE FLU!
To my knowledge, only ONE person caught the Swine flu, from some swine.
***it’s still lurking somewhere. ***
Agreed. A vial of variola (smallpox) was discovered in a closed up lab a few years ago, and one day someone will open a grave of a frozen Eskimo who died of smallpox, releasing it back on the world.
A grave of an Eskimo who died of the 1918 flu was opened and live flu virus was found.
I’ve not heard anything good about the flu vaccine. I’ll never get one.
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My Dad was a Paramedic, and he did not have anything good to say about them. He did not get them, except in the later years, when it was required on the job.
After he retired, he refused the flu vaccine. The flu didn’t ever kill him.
Better question would be, how many died from smallpox vs dying from the vaccine?
Alfred W. Crosby, America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918
John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
Laura Spinny, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World.
All very good, and quite different in how they deal with the topic. Crosby and Barry are mostly concerned with the US and with American troops serving in Europe, while Spinney (who is British) ranges more widely.
Current estimates are that 50 to 100 million people died around the world. The figure sometimes seen for the US, 675,000 deaths, does not include those who died after the middle of 1919. A final wave in early 1920 killed a lot of people even those it wasn't as virulent as the flu strains of the last months of 1918.
p
This is so far down the comments that it won’t be read by many, but here goes:
I have two Civil War veteran great grandfathers buried in a Methodist cemetery near Pittsburgh, PA (along with their spouses and a few of their children - all who died in 1915 or earlier). The cemetery doesn’t have a lot of headstones there. Reason: The 1918 flu epidemic.
After the flu started its killing spree, lots of people didn’t have the money to pay for a lot, so they went to plan “B” - midnight burials. When I asked the church why the place was not better used, the answer was “even though there were no headstones, wherever we tried we dug up human bones; most all of them without a coffin”. Gulp!
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