The Spanish Influenza Epidemic

Even with the human race experiencing countless amounts of casualties throughout the expanse of human history from war and aggression, every war accumulated into one on account of lives lost would not even begin to compare to the amount of lives taken by disease throughout human history. Looking back to 14th century Europe, scholars can unanimously agree that the leading cause of death for the entirety of the human population at that time was due to the “Black Death” or the black plague. This plague took the life of an estimated 75 to 200 million people at its height around 1350 resulting in the loss of 30-65% of Europe’s population. Disease is the type of killer that does not specify its killings based on politics, religious belief, class, or ethnicity. Anyone is susceptible to contracting disease which makes for its high numbers of mortality throughout the entirety of human history. Archiving the devastating effects of the black plague, people did not believe that any other disease could top it, however, another disease arose known as the Spanish Influenza which was responsible for the death of an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide or about 25 to 30% of the world’s entire population. These numbers are staggering on a world scale and it only occurred within the last  one hundred years.

(Chart of the number of infected people by the Spanish Influenza from 1918-1919 throughout the globe./(http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/?p=2190) by Kenneth Kahn)

The influenza virus of 1918 or more commonly referred to as the Spanish Influenza was responsible for the death of 50-100 million people. As stated in the journal article, The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus, published by the American Philosophical Society, that, “-the pandemic virus contains genes derived from avian-like influenza virus strains and that the 1918 virus is the common ancestor of human and classical swine H1N1 influenza viruses.” The virus that most closely resembles the essence of the Spanish Influenza virus today is the Swine Flu virus or the H1N1 virus.

Image of the Spanish Influenza virus underneath a microscope/History.com editors
Accreditation: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic)

The virus was able to spread throughout the world so rapidly because of the mass migrations of people due to the first World War. The virus was able to spread through barracks, trenches, and crowded cities throughout the war.  The virus was actually given its name because of the fact that Spain was a neutral country at the time of World War 1 and there was no ban on the country from reporting its findings of the disease and its impact on the country to its people and to the rest of the world. For the reason of Spain being a neutral country in World War 1, it was able to publicize about the effects of the disease, which made people begin referring to the outbreak as the Spanish Influenza because people believed at the time that the Spanish were taking the brunt of the disease and people began to sympathize for the country and its people. It has been estimated by historians that close to 675,000 people were effected and later died from the Spanish Influenza within the United States alone. This number of dead is estimated to be 55,000 more than the number of lives lost throughout the entirety of the American Civil War. “-most historians agree that the 1918 pandemic started in Kansas in the spring of that year. The first victim on record was Albert Gitchell, a cook at Camp Funston, part of the Fort Riley military base”, says Kenneth C. Davis,  historian and author of the book, “More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War”. This case in Kansas was the first case reported to the American public, which would eventually lead to another  674,999 people to soon discover the same fate as Albert.

(Fatality by the Spanish Influenza in America compared to Europe/Pandemic Influenza: The Inside Story. Nicholls H, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/2/2006, e50 https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040050
The National Museum of Health and Medicine )

The Spanish Influenza was known for its massive death toll throughout the world and especially within the confides of the United States of America. Symptoms of the Spanish Influenza consist of fever, nausea, aches, diarrhea, severe pneumonia attacks, and filling of the lungs with a blood mucous substance. Hospitals were filled across the country to aid the sick and in some instances doctors visited homes of very ill patients. Anyone was susceptible to death no matter they be old, young, rich, or poor. In 1918, the Spanish Influenza had ravaged the United States then seemed to dull in the later months, however, it picked up in the month of March in 1919 taking more lives away from the American population. This null and then spike in deaths was due to the lack of medicine that was being produced and distributed. There was just simply to much demand for medication and doctors quickly found themselves running out of supply to sell to the people. There is a null again in the following months due to increased funding of medicine distribution. The flu was also responsible for its ability to cripple and boost aspects of economics and trade. People began to be wary about who they were trading with in fear that they could potentially be infected with the virus. People all around the world at this point in history are beginning to learn about all the fatalities around the world from the Spanish Influenza which sent people into a panic.

(Image of an Irish Man wearing a face mask to help stop the spread of the Spanish Influenza/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images )

This hesitation to do trade between some countries began to put a toll and a slow on some markets within the United States specifically in food trade. However a market that was economically striving at this time was businesses within the pharmaceutical drug market. In this quote taken from a news article from October 21st, 1918 published by the Washington Post addresses the state of the business that was supplying the American sick with Aspirin claiming, “The country wide epidemic of Spanish Influenza has had considerable influence on the drug markets and the demand for camphor, aspirin, quinine, and many disinfectants has been unprecedented. -in the present epidemic, for which aspirin is widely used, the manufacturers have had no trouble in keeping pace within the demands.” Political and economic scholars can make the claim that even with such suffering and loss, the economy of the United States for some individuals was greatly boosted off of the misfortune of others who needed medication for the pain.

Jeffery K. Taubenberger, writer of the journal article, The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus, states his claim on the importance of scholars continuing in the research and prevention of the spread of deadly diseases world wide writing, “Sequence analysis of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus is allowing us to test hypotheses as to the origin and virulence of this strain. This information should help elucidate how pandemic influenza virus strains emerge and what genetic features contribute to virulence in humans.”  It is important for medical professionals, scholars and political leaders to understand the full extent of a disease that has the potential in causing mass amounts of deaths to a population. Unfortunately, the Spanish Influenza virus can be seen as an awful if not the most awful moment in the history of 1919. No event within the country during this year had more of an affect on the personal lives of the American people. Individuals lost many loved ones and friends within their communities. It is important to look back on history and see these tragic events and remember the people effected and the course in which the disease had spread and take specific precautions in making sure that severe outbreaks do not happen in the magnitude of past events like that of the Spanish Influenza and see the way in which humans react to new vaccinations and cures.

Bibliography:

Davis, Kenneth C. More Deadly than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War. New York:           Henry Holt and Company, 2018.

DRUG MARKETS AFFECTED BY SPANISH INFLUENZA. (1918, Oct 21). Wall Street Journal (1889-1922) Retrieved     from http://library.ramapo.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/129714991?accountid=13420

Halford, Bethany. “Learning from the Infamous 1918 Spanish Flu.” Cen.acs.org. Accessed March 23, 2019.     https://cen.acs.org/articles/96/i11/learning-from-the-infamous-1918-spanish-flu.html.

Taubenberger, Jeffery K. “The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus.” Proceedings of the American       Philosophical Society 150, no. 1 (2006): 86-112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4598974.

“TEXTILE TRADE HIT BY SPANISH INFLUENZA.” Wall Street Journal (1889-1922),Oct 21, 1918.     http://library.ramapo.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/129724523?accountid=13420.

Images:

Image 1:

Title: Chart of the number of infected people by the Spanish Influenza from 1918-1919 throughout the globe

Date Accessed: March 23, 2019

Accreditation: The ‘Spanish’ Influenza pandemic and its relation to World War I (http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/?p=2190) by Kenneth Kahn (http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/author/kkahn/) licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/)

Image 2:

Title: Image of the Spanish Influenza virus underneath a microscope

Date: October 12, 2010

Editor: History.com editors

Accreditation: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic

Image 3:

Title: Fatality by the Spanish Influenza in America compared to Europe

Date: 14 February 1918

Accreditation: Pandemic Influenza: The Inside Story. Nicholls H, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/2/2006, e50 https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040050

The National Museum of Health and Medicine

Image 4:

Title: Image of an Irish Man wearing a face mask to help stop the spread of the Spanish Influenza

Date: Image taken circa 1918

Date Accessed: March 23, 2019

Accreditation: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

 

 

 

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