In 1918, an outbreak of influenza resulted in one of the worst pandemics in world history.
What caused this pandemic to occur?
How widespread was the suffering?
No one is sure where the Spanish Flu originated.
Some believe the pandemic began in Fort Riley, Kansas.
Others pinpoint China or East Asia.
Still others have speculated that the source of the flu was Austria or France.
Regardless of its origin, in late 1917, doctors in Europe began reporting an outbreak of a
disease with a high mortality rate.
They eventually identified it as a strain of influenza known as H1N1 (now known as Swine
Flu).
This particular strain initially spread amongst soldiers in World War I.
The overcrowded conditions of military encampments, trenches, and military hospitals created the
perfect environment for spreading an airborne illness.
The disease spread quickly because when an infected person coughs or sneezes, more than
half a million virus particles can be spread to those in close proximity.
This was made worse by the conditions of World War I.
Many soldiers were malnourished and suffering from the stress of combat.
This led to millions of men with weakened immune systems and left them susceptible to
viral infections.
The flu spread from country to country at a rapid rate.
Again, the wartime conditions enhanced its global dissemination.
Soldiers were leaving the battlefields and returning home or traveling to foreign shores
as they were deployed.
As they moved, the flu traveled with them.
Additionally, the ease of travel contributed to how quickly the flu spread.
Ships, trains, and automobiles moved faster than ever before, which meant the flu was
on the move as well.
No part of the world was untouched.
Ireland, Great Britain, India, Iran, Japan, Samoa, and New Zealand all experienced outbreaks.
The flu was first reported in the United States in Kansas during the spring of 1918.
It spread rapidly, and by mid-March had reached Queens, New York.
The global nature of the outbreak is why this event is referred to as a pandemic.
A pandemic is defined as the outbreak of a disease that is prevalent throughout the entire
world.
The international press focused on the disease as it made its way out of France and into
the Iberian Peninsula.
The country affected the most at that moment was Spain; therefore, many in the media began
referring to it as “the Spanish Flu,” which is the name it is known by today.
The virus caused hemorrhaging in the nose, stomach, intestines, and lungs.
Hemorrhaging in the lungs caused the sufferer to drown from the buildup of fluid.
Patients could also bleed from their ears or mouths.
These symptoms, as well as other complications, resulted in the Spanish Flu being an extremely
deadly form of the flu.
Death rates for the flu are generally about 0.1% of those infected.
However, with the Spanish Flu, somewhere between 10-20% of those infected died from the flu
itself or from complications that arose from their infection.
Strangely enough, young adults (age 20-40) were infected and died at the highest rate.
This is abnormal compared to most outbreaks of the flu where infants and the elderly suffer
the most.
Death tolls were high in numerous countries.
Over 400,000 died in France, while about 250,000 died in Great Britain.
More than 900,000 lost their lives in Iran, and a staggering 17 million may have died
in India.
In the United States, approximately 28% of the population contracted the illness, with
somewhere between 500,000 to 675,000 succumbing to death.
In many cases, deaths were the result of bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection associated
with the flu.
The Spanish Flu impacted the economy as well as other aspects of day-to-day life.
Many stores closed while others did not allow customers to enter.
Instead, visitors were asked to leave their orders on the doorstep outside.
Agriculture was also affected because the flu, coupled with the war, caused a severe
shortage in the number of farmhands to work fields and harvest crops.
Many people were afraid to leave their homes altogether.
When they did, some resorted to wearing handkerchiefs or even gasmasks over their faces.
Doctors and nurses had difficulty meeting the demands for their services.
Many in both professions were overseas assisting with the war effort.
As a result, third and fourth-year medical students were released from school to work
in hospitals.
Sadly, gravediggers and those who built coffins also had difficulty meeting the demand.
In some cases, bodies were left outside for days at a time.
In others, bodies were buried without coffins or in mass graves.
While many today think of the Spanish Flu Pandemic as one event, there were actually
three separate outbreaks of the virus.
The first was in March of 1918.
A second deadly wave occurred in the fall of 1918.
October of 1918 was one of the worst months in terms of mortality rates, with 200,000
deaths recorded in the United States alone.
The third and final wave occurred during the winter of 1919.
In the years that followed, the Spanish Flu pandemic was largely forgotten.
World War I had raged for four years and had impacted virtually everyone’s life.
As a result, the war overshadowed the outbreak of the flu which lasted for such a brief time.
In many countries, the focus was placed on the millions who had died in combat rather
than those who perished from the pandemic.
However, the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and resulted in the deaths of 50-100
million worldwide.
This would mean it took the lives of 3-5% of the world’s population.
This would also mean that the Spanish Flu claimed more lives in less than a year than
the Black Plague did in one hundred years.
The Spanish Flu is remembered as one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.