1918 Influenza

The worst pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions of people. Today, with how interconnected the world is, it would spread faster - Bill Gates

1918 Influenza
1918 Influenza

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A century ago the Spanish flu killed 50 million—and then we forgot about it


The Spanish influenza was unusual in more ways than one. There’s its universality: Between 1918 and 1919, the particularly aggressive H1N1 virus infected 1 in 3 people on planet Earth. Its severity: The flu killed approximately 50 million. And its invisibility: Today, historians often describe it as a “forgotten” pandemic.

In some ways, they’re right. There are no monuments to the victims. There are no classic works of literature inspired by the disease’s rapid advance. In other ways, though, they’re wrong. How forgotten can a pandemic be if there is an entire PBS documentary about it? After reading countless contagious articles, visiting a virulent exhibit the Museum of…

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 A century ago the Spanish flu killed 50 million—and then we forgot about it

The Spanish influenza was unusual in more ways than one. There’s its universality: Between 1918 and 1919, the particularly aggressive H1N1 virus infected 1 in 3 people on planet Earth. Its severity: The flu killed approximately 50 million. And its invisibility: Today, historians often describe it as a “forgotten” pandemic.

Ten Myths About the 1918 Flu Pandemic

The ‘greatest pandemic in history’ was 100 years ago – but many of us still get the basic facts wrong.

1918 Flu

Can we better prepare for future flu pandemics by resurrecting the 1918 flu virus? This microbe, recovered from tissue samples of World War I soldiers, is perhaps the deadliest pathogen in human history. In this NOVA scienceNOW video segment, meet microbiologists working in the trenches to (very carefully) reconstruct a virus that killed up to 50 million people worldwide.

1918 Influenza Pandemic

In 1918, a highly virulent form of the influenza virus killed at least 20 million people worldwide. Understanding the origin of the virus that caused this pandemic has been a long-standing goal because of the risk that a similar virus could arise and devastate human populations today.

1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics

The "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918—1919, which caused ≈50 million deaths worldwide, remains an ominous warning to public health. Many questions about its origins, its unusual epidemiologic features, and the basis of its pathogenicity remain unanswered.

InfluenzaVirusNet.com

The 1918 flu pandemic (the Spanish Flu) was an unusually severe and deadly influenza pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin. Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients.

American Experience

In September of 1918, soldiers at an army base near Boston suddenly began to die. The cause of death was identified as influenza, but it was unlike any strain ever seen. As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic in American history, killing over 600,000--until it disappeared as mysteriously as it had begun.

Contagion

The Spanish influenza pandemic differed from previous influenza pandemics in its unprecedented virulence. Its unique characteristics included unusually high case fatality, especially among 20— to 40—year-olds.

History.com

The influenza or flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, the deadliest in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide--about one-third of the planet’s population at the time--and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.

ScienceNetLinks

In 1918, a flu epidemic killed twenty million people. Now, scientists have found one reason why. Working with preserved samples of the 1918 virus, University of Wisconsin virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka and his colleagues have identified a single gene that made it much nastier. He says mice that shrugged off ordinary flu viruses reacted very differently to a virus with the 1918 gene.

Vermont Historical Society

In the late summer and autumn of 1918, the population of Vermont was ravaged by the pandemic of “Spanish Influenza” that struck nationwide and worldwide. The disease, which attacked the lungs, caused high fever, delirium, excruciating pains in the back and limbs, and nausea, swept across the state rapidly.

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