With over 100 million dead from what came to be known as the "Spanish Flu", the influenza outbreak of 1918 even today remains the largest disease outbreak so to say, in all of recorded history of the world! The pandemic began as would a normal plague. Estimated to have started in San Sebastián Spain, the influenza gained the name of the "Spanish Flu". Most people did not think very much of it as it was somewhat of a common pattern of illness. The death rates were not raised by the fact that it killed everybody it infected, but rather that it infected so many people and then killed a large number of a lot of people as it did still have death rate. What makes this particular pandemic outstanding is let alone the death rate but also the age group of victims. The age group for those who were ill was not the normal age group where there were many older people as well as little children; instead it affected those who would most likely be able to fight it off the best. That was the people were in their 20s' or 30s. Chicago's crime rate decreased by 43% in just one month. As to how it made it over to Chicago no one is quite sure. One method is possible from the Navy or from those who had come home from the war, but the only problem with is the fact that the major outbreak of disease had ended at about the same time the war ended (September 29, 1918) so it would have been hard to have spread only by methods of soldiers returning home.
Most victims suffered a headache, a fever, as well as being sore and tired. They did not think much as it usually was gone in about 3 days, but left a 1 or 2 week recovery period. So what was the reason for all of the deaths? The main cause of death was because for one no one really thought much of it and figured that it would pass. Second, when it did not pass, people became very sick quickly and were not able to recover, and finally because there were so many sick people that there is a point where not much can be done, and America had figured that the doctors and scientist had figured all of this stuff out and would be able to cure the problem. Now it is also known that for some people the H1N1 virus may have also attacked an individual's immune system so fast that it caused their body to attack itself, and not just by creating the proteins that were necessary to create the virus, because at that point where the body would attack itself the virus would have already existed or been transmitted.
What Happened From the Birth of the Pandemic to the End?
In March of 1918, Spanish newspapers reported of such a pandemic. At the same time, back in Fort Riley, Kansas many people were going to see the camp doctor, by the end of the day which the camps outbreak began their were about 100 sick people, at the end of the week, that turned into 500. Up until July, no official warnings are made about this until the one by Philadelphia which warned about this incoming virus. By August the virus has reached Commonwealth Pier in Boston and is beginning to affect many sailors in the Navy. When September arrives, the death toll begins to climb. As the first official count to be major was observed by Dr. Victor Vaughn when he arrived in Boston to find out that the next day 63 men would die, the numbers would only grow, and 63 would be a small number. It is not long after that when many cities begin to warn their towns about the dangers that lurk ahead! As most city officials are aware of the possibilities of being infected because of how close they are to major infected zones, one city ignores this precaution as does nothing other listen to the others. This city is San Francisco. The location of the Bay City would lead them to think that there is no possible way of the virus reaching all the way to the other side of the east coast as at this point most people assume that the virus is something that is East bound. The problem is that this was something that just occurred somewhat randomly, and San Francisco was not safe!
As the East coast continues to have an increasing climb to their death toll with numbers rising as high as 851 deaths in one day from New York, Philadelphia attempts to defeat the influenza by announcing that it has produced a cure, and gives this vaccine to about 10,000 people. Still ignorant to the situation, "Dr. William Hassler, Chief of San Francisco's Board of Health had gone so far as to predict that the flu would not even reach the city." November would pose to become a very deadly month for San Francisco. When 30,000 people go out to the street to celebrate the end of World War I, sirens sound alerting the city that it is safe to take off the mask which they are wearing. The fatal flaw causes 2,122 deaths to San Franciscans alone! At this point, it becomes well know that the virus is not going to be stopped by distance.
Similar to the way the US court system does not allow a person to be tried for the same exact thing twice, the human body does not allow you to get sick with the same exact thing twice. This is reason as to why it is often thought that the virus did not go away so much as it did run out of victims. The mistakes made in this pandemic are somewhat avoidable. First of all when there is something this contagious, there should for no reason be large gatherings of people. Along with this, one thing that millions of people learned by this was that distance is not an issue when it comes to disease control, and an outbreak of anything is reliant only on the capability of a disease spreading.
Barry, John M. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. Penguin Books. 2005.
Kolata, Gina. Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It. Tandem Library. 2001.
Glezen, Paul W.. Emerging Infections: Pandemic Influenza. Epidemiological Reviews. 1996. <http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/18/1/64.pdf>.
"There are records noting that at the Ford Motor Company more than 1,000 workers called in sick with the flu in March. In San Quentin prison, 500 of 1,900 prisoners became ill in April and May. On March 4, the flu came to Camp Funston (now Fort Riley) in Kansas, a training camp for 20,000 recruits. That month and the next, it also arrived at more than a dozen other Army camps, but no eyebrows were raised. After all, colds and flu were to be expected in training camps where thousands of men were brought together, mingling and passing viruses among themselves." (Gina Kolata)
Most victims suffered a headache, a fever, as well as being sore and tired. They did not think much as it usually was gone in about 3 days, but left a 1 or 2 week recovery period. So what was the reason for all of the deaths? The main cause of death was because for one no one really thought much of it and figured that it would pass. Second, when it did not pass, people became very sick quickly and were not able to recover, and finally because there were so many sick people that there is a point where not much can be done, and America had figured that the doctors and scientist had figured all of this stuff out and would be able to cure the problem. Now it is also known that for some people the H1N1 virus may have also attacked an individual's immune system so fast that it caused their body to attack itself, and not just by creating the proteins that were necessary to create the virus, because at that point where the body would attack itself the virus would have already existed or been transmitted.
What Happened From the Birth of the Pandemic to the End?
In March of 1918, Spanish newspapers reported of such a pandemic. At the same time, back in Fort Riley, Kansas many people were going to see the camp doctor, by the end of the day which the camps outbreak began their were about 100 sick people, at the end of the week, that turned into 500. Up until July, no official warnings are made about this until the one by Philadelphia which warned about this incoming virus. By August the virus has reached Commonwealth Pier in Boston and is beginning to affect many sailors in the Navy. When September arrives, the death toll begins to climb. As the first official count to be major was observed by Dr. Victor Vaughn when he arrived in Boston to find out that the next day 63 men would die, the numbers would only grow, and 63 would be a small number. It is not long after that when many cities begin to warn their towns about the dangers that lurk ahead! As most city officials are aware of the possibilities of being infected because of how close they are to major infected zones, one city ignores this precaution as does nothing other listen to the others. This city is San Francisco. The location of the Bay City would lead them to think that there is no possible way of the virus reaching all the way to the other side of the east coast as at this point most people assume that the virus is something that is East bound. The problem is that this was something that just occurred somewhat randomly, and San Francisco was not safe!
As the East coast continues to have an increasing climb to their death toll with numbers rising as high as 851 deaths in one day from New York, Philadelphia attempts to defeat the influenza by announcing that it has produced a cure, and gives this vaccine to about 10,000 people. Still ignorant to the situation, "Dr. William Hassler, Chief of San Francisco's Board of Health had gone so far as to predict that the flu would not even reach the city." November would pose to become a very deadly month for San Francisco. When 30,000 people go out to the street to celebrate the end of World War I, sirens sound alerting the city that it is safe to take off the mask which they are wearing. The fatal flaw causes 2,122 deaths to San Franciscans alone! At this point, it becomes well know that the virus is not going to be stopped by distance.
Similar to the way the US court system does not allow a person to be tried for the same exact thing twice, the human body does not allow you to get sick with the same exact thing twice. This is reason as to why it is often thought that the virus did not go away so much as it did run out of victims. The mistakes made in this pandemic are somewhat avoidable. First of all when there is something this contagious, there should for no reason be large gatherings of people. Along with this, one thing that millions of people learned by this was that distance is not an issue when it comes to disease control, and an outbreak of anything is reliant only on the capability of a disease spreading.
Barry, John M. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. Penguin Books. 2005.
Kolata, Gina. Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It. Tandem Library. 2001.
Glezen, Paul W.. Emerging Infections: Pandemic Influenza. Epidemiological Reviews. 1996. <http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/18/1/64.pdf>.
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