Posted on 03/18/2020 9:01:45 AM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
In all of the hysteria we are seeing I think it behooves us to look back at two Pandemics that have happened in the last 65 years that were worse than this, worse than the Swine Flu, SARS, AND MERS in terms of people infected and deaths from it.
1957-1958 Pandemic (H2N2 virus)
In February 1957, a new influenza A (H2N2) virus emerged in East Asia, triggering a pandemic (“Asian Flu”). This H2N2 virus was comprised of three different genes from an H2N2 virus that originated from an avian influenza A virus, including the H2 hemagglutinin and the N2 neuraminidase genes. It was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and in coastal cities in the United States in summer 1957. The estimated number of deaths was 1.1 million worldwide and 116,000 in the United States. Number infected in U.S. not quite known but was undoubtedly 50 to 60 Million.
THE 1968 HONG KONG FLU PANDEMIC In reading the following you will that this was a very dangerous flu epidemic that has some characteristics to the Cornavirus in terms of contagion . An estimated 70 million people were infected in just the U.S. and there were over 214,000 deaths here and about 1 to 2 Million worldwide. I don’t remember a panic and the hysteria we are seeing now, then again there was no social media to fan to flames.
Hong Kong flu of 1968, also called Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968, global outbreak of influenza that originated in China in July 1968 and lasted until 1969–70. The outbreak was the third influenza pandemic to occur in the 20th century; it followed the Asian flu pandemic of 1957 and the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 (also called Spanish flu). The Hong Kong flu resulted in an estimated one million to four million deaths, far fewer than the 1918–19 pandemic, which caused between 25 million and 50 million deaths.
The 1968 pandemic was initiated by the emergence of a virus known as influenza A subtype H3N2 (also called Hong Kong flu virus). It is suspected that this virus evolved from the strain of influenza that caused the 1957 pandemic. The 1957 Asian flu virus, or influenza A subtype H2N2, is believed to have given rise to H3N2 through a process called antigenic shift, in which the hemagglutinin (H) antigen (a substance that stimulates an immune response) on the outer surface of the virus underwent genetic mutation to produce the new H3 antigen. Because the new virus retained the neuraminidase (N) antigen N2, persons who had been exposed to the 1957 virus apparently retained immune protection against the 1968 virus. This would explain the mildness of the 1968 outbreak relative to the pandemic of 1918–19.
Although the Hong Kong flu outbreak was associated with comparatively few deaths worldwide, the virus was highly contagious, a factor that facilitated its rapid global dissemination. Indeed, within two weeks of its emergence in July in Hong Kong, some 500,000 cases of illness had been reported, and the virus proceeded to spread swiftly throughout Southeast Asia. Within several months it had reached the Panama Canal Zone and the United States, where it had been taken overseas by soldiers returning to California from Vietnam. By the end of December the virus had spread throughout the United States and had reached the United Kingdom and countries in western Europe. Australia, Japan, and multiple countries in Africa, eastern Europe, and Central and South America were also affected. The pandemic occurred in two waves, and in most places the second wave caused a greater number of deaths than the first wave.
The 1968 Hong Kong flu caused illness of varying degrees of severity in different populations. For example, whereas illness was diffuse and affected only small numbers of people in Japan, it was widespread and deadly in the United States. Infection caused upper respiratory symptoms typical of influenza and produced symptoms of chills, fever, and muscle pain and weakness. These symptoms usually persisted for between four and six days. The highest levels of mortality were associated with the most susceptible groups, namely infants and the elderly. Although a vaccine was developed against the virus, it became available only after the pandemic had peaked in many countries.
These two examples are just to show the response then and also how lethal these were as opposed to what we are seeing right now. Of course the statistics on the Cornavirus can change for the worse.
Agreed. People keep talking about numbers. But the death rates for those other flus were under 1%.
So far, COVID-19 has shown a higher death rate. That doesn’t mean the gov’t should be sending $1,000 checks to people or that our civil liberties should be dismissed. But this is a serious situation.
The other day I saw some posts about Asian Flu, and called my parents to ask about it. They were kids in ‘57, and one of them has a 1-in-a-million memory (the other claims to have antibodies for that).
Answers: Neither one of them got either flu, and they were surrounded by filth and disease (cesspool NYC). They had measles, mumps and all sorts of poxes and plagues common to the era, but avoided both the ‘57 and the ‘68 flu. They knew exactly four people who had the ‘57 flu and one infant that died of it. Otherwise, they were mainly worried about polio, “the bomb,” “mono,” and Viet Nam.
Wish I’d been born much earlier. :(
I understand that, but it is Flu like. I am only giving comparative numbers to give an overview. It’s all we have to go on.
I got the Hong Kong Flu in 1968...the doctor told me he had no medicine to give me and to “go home you will either die or get well”...
One thing I can correct about your dates...I had the Hong Kong Flu in August 1968...I was in New Zeeland...it was winter time there...If it started in China in July it could easily have gone to NZ right away...It may have started earlier though...
Oh and by the fall of 1969 (March-June) Australia had a shot for that flu...it was the first flu shots in that country...
Heck I didn’t even know there was a Hong Kong Flu in 1968. Nixon was president so the press must not have been completely weaponized at that point, though their bias was quite evident then.
I was born in 1951, so I was 6 for the 1957 pandemic. We lived in Whitesboro, NY at the time (suburb of Utica). Nobody got sick.
In 1968 for the Hong Kong flu I was living in Seattle, Washington. Nobody got sick. I was in college so there likely were disease vectors there.
I think there was some flu in 1979. I was working hard running my small business. Nobody got sick. Not my staff, clients or anyone that I knew.
Save for later
I am old enough (barely) to remember how freaked out my mom was about the Hong Kong Flu.
I worked in a paper mill in Longview in the summer of 1974 (Weyerhauser, I think). I went to a “Steam Up” in Kelso and still remember all the great old steam tractor demonstrations cutting lumber, threshing, and plowing. It was a real nice area.
Ha! As a child I had all 3 of those at some point between 1968 and 70 or so. Interestingly enough, since then I’ve always had a very, strong immune system. Go figure?
Yes, Longview and Kelso are interesting areas. The lumber barons came out from Missouri and established the lumber and paper mills in the area.
Longview is a lovely planned city with the river running through the middle of it with walkways.
Kelso is much more humble. It is where the mill workers lived and the owners lived in Longview.
I drive through there sometimes on my way from Seattle to the Oregon beaches.
That’s the report weathermen should give. It will either rain, or it won’t. Then they’d never be wrong.
Lyndon Johnson was President.
A bit before my understanding years, but I was wondering if the Asian flu was called the Kung Flu?
On second thought, probably not. I don’t this this country even knew what Kung Fu was until Bruce Lee.
Yeah, Nixon didn’t actually take office until 1969. He won the 1968 election.
I remember this from my childhood.
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