1918-1919 Flu Pandemic

by Anna Kathryn Lanier

Since flu season is swooping down on us, I thought I'd write about the influenza pandemic of the 1900's. In the book It's About Time: How Long History Took Mike Flanagan writes on page 10 that the pandemic took three years and that:

"Chicago's crime rate dropped 43 percent. In one day 851 New Yorkers died. More American soldiers died of the "Spanish Flu" in 1918 than were killed on battlefields of World War I. Since epidemic bronchitis preceded the flu from 1915-1917 in France and England, few individuals had a prior immunity to this new lethal strain and often died within a week of exposure. In the United States, 500,000 deaths were recorded between March and November of 1918. Globally, about 40 million people died. Recent studies say the virus may have percolated within humans and pigs for several years until it grew lethal enough to emerge as history's worst influenza pandemic."

An article on the Center of Disease Control website says that over 500 million people worldwide were affected. In addition, the effects of this pandemic are not limited to 1918. Every influenza A pandemics since are descendants of the 1918 virus.

By the way, you may recall that this pandemic was mentioned in the holiday classic "It's A Wonderful Life." As an employee at the pharmacy, George Baily reads a telegram from the war department to Mr. Gower telling him his son died of the influenza. The grief of losing his son causes Mr. Gower to put poison in some medicine he's mixing.George saves the day by noticing what Mr. Gower did and not delivering the medication to the sick family. When George is 'never born,' Mr. Gower was sentenced to years in prison for killing people that day.

Additional information about the pandemic can be found out:

http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/encyclopedia/entries/influenza-pandemic.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm

For a time line on the pandemic check out:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/timeline/index.html

The CDC's website says:

Influenza (the flu) is serious.
Each year in the United States, on average:

More than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications;
36,000 people die from flu.

For more information on influenza from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) check out their website:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

And more information on flu shots and statistics can be found at WebMD

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/default.htm

If you're at high risk for the flu, young, old, or chronically sick, you should get your flu shot, before the flu gets you.

**Thus ends my public service announcement.

PS – most of this article first appeared on my blog Chatting with Anna Kathryn on October 16, 2008.

~Anna Kathryn
www.aklanier.com