Search results
Despite this, in 1918, while World War One was still being fought, there was an outbreak of a deadly disease that killed thousands of people in Britain. This was known as Spanish influenza.
- It Struck in Three Waves Across The World
- Its Origins Are Unknown to This Day
- It Did Not Come from Spain
- There Were No Drugs Or Vaccines to Treat It
- It Was particularly Deadly For Young and Healthy People
- The Medical Profession Tried to Play Down Its Severity
- 25 Million People Died in The First 25 Weeks
- It Reached Almost Every Single Part of The World
- The Exact Death Toll Is Impossible to Know
- It Killed More People Than World War One Combined
The first wave of the 1918 pandemic took place in the spring of that year, and was generally mild. Those infected experienced typical flu symptoms – chills, fever, fatigue – and usually recovered after several days. The number of reported deaths was low. In the autumn of 1918, the second wave appeared – and with a vengeance. Victims died within hou...
The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, America and parts of Asia, before rapidly spreading across every part of the world within a matter of months. It remains unknown where the particular strain of influence – the first pandemic involving the H1N1 influenza virus – came from. There is some evidence to suggest that the virus came from a bird or...
Despite its colloquial name, the 1918 flu did not originate from Spain. The British Medical Journal referred to the virus as “Spanish flu” because Spain was hit hard by the disease. Even Spain’s king, Alfonso XIII, reportedly contracted the flu. In addition, Spain was not subject to the wartime news censorship rules that affected other European cou...
When the flu hit, doctors and scientists were unsure what caused it or how to treat it. At the time, there were no effective vaccines or antivirals to treat the deadly strain. People were advised to wear masks, avoid shaking hands, and to stay indoors. Schools, churches, theatres and businesses were shuttered, libraries put a halt on lending books ...
Most influenza outbreaks only claim as fatalities juveniles, the elderly, or people who are already weakened. Today, flu is especially dangerous for under 5-year-olds and those over 75. The 1918 influenza pandemic, however, affected completely healthy and strong adults between 20 and 40 years of age – including millions of World War One soldiers. S...
In the summer of 1918, the Royal College of Physicians claimed the flu was no more threatening than the “Russian flu” of 1189-94. The British Medical Journal accepted that overcrowding on transport and in the workplace was necessary for the war effort, and implied that the “inconvenience” of the flu should be quietly borne. Individual doctors also ...
As the second wave of the autumn hit, the flu epidemic spiralled out of control. In most cases, haemorrhages in the nose and lungs killed victims within three days. International ports – usually the first places in a country to be infected – reported serious problems. In Sierra Leone, 500 out of 600 dock workers fell too sick to work. Epidemics wer...
The 1918 epidemic was of a truly global scale. It infected 500 million people across the world, including those on remote Pacific Islands and in the Arctic. In Latin America, 10 out of every 1,000 people died; in Africa, it was 15 per 1,000. In Asia, the death toll reached as high as 35 in every 1,000. In Europe and America, troops travelling by bo...
The estimated death toll attributed to the 1918 flu epidemic is usually at 20 million to 50 million victims worldwide. Other estimates run as high as 100 million victims – around 3% of the world’s population. However it is impossible to know what the exact death toll was, due to the lack of accurate medical record-keeping in many infected places. T...
More American soldiers died from the 1918 flu than were killed in battle during the First World War. In fact, the flu claimed more lives than all of the World War One battles combined. The outbreak turned the previously strong, immune systems against them: 40% of the US navy were infected, while 36% of the army became ill. Featured image: Emergency...
The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more than 50 million people worldwide. In addition, its socioeconomic consequences were huge. “Spanish flu”, as the infection was dubbed, hit different age-groups, displaying a so-called “W-trend”, typically with two spikes in children and the elderly.
The 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic, sometimes referred to as the “Spanish flu,” killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including an estimated 675,000 people in the United States. 1,2,3,4 An unusual characteristic of this virus was the high death rate it caused among healthy adults 15 to 34 years of age. 3 The pandemic lowered the average ...
Oct 12, 2010 · The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one‑third of the planet’s population—and killed an estimated 20 million ...
People also ask
Why was the 1918 flu called the 'Spanish flu'?
Did the Spanish flu originate from an avian virus?
Why was the Spanish flu 'forgotten'?
Where did Spanish flu come from?
Did the great Spanish influenza pandemic originate in France in 1916?
Is there a film about the Spanish flu?
Sep 27, 2017 · We call that tidal wave the Spanish flu, and many things changed in the wake of it. One of the most profound revolutions took place in the domain of public health.
