Spanish flu
The
Spanish Flu Pandemic, also known as , , or the
1918 flu, was a
pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly
strain of the subtype
H1N1 of the species
Influenza A virus (which apparently killed via
cytokine storm, explaining the severe nature and unusual age distribution).In that pandemic, 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed during about a year in
1918 and
1919 [NAP].
The
Allies of World War I called it the "
Spanish Flu". This was mainly because the pandemic received greater press attention in Spain than in the rest of the world, as
Spain was not involved in the war and there was no wartime
censorship in Spain.
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This notice warns citizens of the dangerous flu. |
The global
mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5% – 5% of the human population, with 20% of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent. Influenza may have killed as many as 25 million in its first 25 weeks; in contrast,
AIDS killed 25 million in its first 25 years. Influenza spread across the world, killing more than 25 million in six months; some estimates put the total killed at over twice that number, possibly even 100 million.
In
US, about 28% of the population suffered, and 500,000 to 675,000 died. In
Britain 200,000 died; in
France more than 400,000. Entire villages perished in
Alaska and
southern Africa. In
Australia an estimated 10,000 people died and in the
Fiji Islands, 14% of the population died during only two weeks, and in
Western Samoa 22%. An estimated 17 million died in
India, about 5% of India's population at the time. In the Indian Army, almost 22% of troops who caught the disease died of it.
While
World War I didn't cause the flu, the close quarters and mass movement of troops quickened its spread. It has been speculated that the soldiers' immune systems were weakened by the stresses of combat and chemical attacks, increasing their susceptibility to the disease.
Patterns of fatality
The strain was unusual for influenza in that this pandemic killed many young adults and otherwise healthy victims; common influenzas kill mostly newborns, the old and infirm.
People without symptoms could be struck suddenly and within hours be too feeble to walk; many died the next day. Symptoms included a blue tint to the face and coughing up blood caused by severe obstruction of the lungs. In later stages, the virus caused an uncontrollable
hemorrhaging that filled the lungs, and patients drowned in their body fluids.
In fast-progressing cases, mortality was primarily from
pneumonia, by virus-induced consolidation. Slower-progressing cases featured secondary bacterial pneumonias, and there may have been neural involvement that led to psychiatric disorders in a minority of cases. Some deaths resulted from malnourishment and even animal attacks in overwhelmed communities.
Devastated communities
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Street car conductor in Seattle not allowing passengers aboard without a mask in 1918. |
While in most places less than one-third of the population was infected and a fraction of that died, in a number of towns in several countries the entire population was wiped out.
Even in areas where mortality was low, those incapacitated by the illness were often so numerous as to bring much of everyday life to a stop. Some communities closed all stores or required customers not to enter the store but place their orders outside the store for filling. There were many reports of places with no health care workers to tend the sick because of their own ill health and no able bodied grave diggers to bury the dead. Mass graves were dug by
steam shovel and bodies buried without coffins in many places.
Attempts to curb the pandemic
The social effects were intense due to the fast spread of the pandemic. Many cities, states, and countries enforced restrictions on public gatherings and travel to try to stop the pandemic. In many places theaters, dance halls, churches and other public gathering places were closed for over a year.
Quarantines were enforced with little success. Some communities placed armed guards at the borders and turned back or quarantined any travellers. One U.S. town even outlawed shaking hands.
Unaffected Locales
In
Japan, 257,363 deaths were attributed to influenza by July
1919, giving an estimated 0.425% mortality rate, much lower than nearly all other Asian countries for which data are available. The Japanese government severely restricted maritime travel to and from the home islands when the plague struck. The only sizeable inhabited place with no documented outbreak of the flu in 1918–1919 was the island of
Marajó at the mouth of the
Amazon River in
Brazil.
*Niall Johnson (2006)
Britain and the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic: A Dark Epilogue. Routledge, London and New York. ISBN 0-415-365600
*Terrence M. Tumpey, Adolfo García-Sastre, Andrea Mikulasova, Jeffery K. Taubenberger, David E. Swayne, Peter Palese, and Christopher F. Basler (2002) "Existing antivirals are effective against influenza viruses with genes from the 1918 pandemic virus".
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99, 13849–13854.
*Alfred W. Crosby (1990).
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521386950.
*John M. Barry, (2004).
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History. Viking Penguin. ISBN 0670894737.
*Leonard Crane, (2000).
Ninth Day of Creation. Connection Books. ISBN 0967571294.
*Andrew Noymer and Michel Garenne (2000). "The 1918 Influenza Epidemic's Effects on Sex Differentials in Mortality in the United States".
Population and Development Review,
26(3):565–581.
*Geoffrey W. Rice and Edwina Palmer (1993). "Pandemic Influenza in Japan, 1918–19: Mortality Patterns and Official Responses".
Journal of Japanese Studies,
19(2):389–420.
*
Nature "Web Focus" on 1918 flu, including new research*
Influenza Pandemic on stanford.edu*
Article: The Deadliest Fall*
Influenza 1918 in the United States on pbs.org*
Secrets of the Dead: Killer Flu (PBS)*
Flu by Eileen A. Lynch. The devastating effect of the Spanish flu in the city of Philadelphia, PA, USA*
Dialog: An Interview with Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger on Reconstructing the Spanish Flu*
The Deadly Virus - The Influenza Epidemic of 1918, by the National Archives and Records Administration (see actual pictures and records of the time).
*
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand - includes recorded recollections of people who lived through it*
Experts Unlock Clues to Spread of 1918 Flu Virus -
The New York Times*
PBS - recovery of flu samples from Alaskan flu victims*
An Avian Connection as a Catalyst to the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic*
Alaska Science Forum - Permafrost Preserves Clues to Deadly 1918 Flu*
Pathology of Influenza in France, 1920 Report
