Unlike most influenza viruses that prey on the young and old, mortality rates for the 1918 influenza were highest for individuals aged 18 to 40, and more so for males than females. It was october 1918, and the raging flu epidemic had killed. But the death toll was absolutely enormous, and the virus made its way far beyond the countries actively involved in the conflict. Phss public health service fight against the 1918 influenza pandemic. The influenza pandemic of 191819 caused unprecedented devastation 1. Another significant factor that differentiated this pandemic was that most deaths occurred among young adults. The story of influenza the threat of pandemic influenza ncbi.
The 19181919 influenza pandemic in the united states. The 19181919 influenza pandemic was caused by an influenza a virus of the h1n1 subtype. The science behind why the 1918 flu is the mother of all pandemics continues to challenge scientists today. It was carried home by soldiers returning from europe at the end of the first world war. Lasting from january 1918 to december 1920, it infected 500 million people about a quarter of the worlds population at the time. In 1918 flu pandemic, timing was a killer the new york times. In 1918, an influenza virus known as the spanish flu killed over 50. As far as we know, viruses have existed as long as life on earth, coming up from the. About 500 million people were infected across the world. A chart from about 1919 shows the climbing death toll in several u. With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the spanish flu of 19181920 was the greatest human. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. Yet, while 1918 pandemic influenza may have been of little significance militarily, it was a disaster of enormous magnitude from a purely human point of view.
The 1918 influenza pandemic, also known as the spanish flu, was the deadliest epidemic in world history. Amid 1918 flu pandemic, america struggled to bury the dead. But to a world already weary of death and governed by seemingly endless tragedy, the obituaries of the 1918 influenza pandemic were the latest in a list it had been reading for four years. Flu pandemic 1918 research paper due and dont know how to start it. Although influenza was in the air and heralded on the front pages of newspapers across the nation during the fall of 1918, communities great and small experienced the pandemic in markedly different ways. Death toll rises, new cases fall the citizen staff apr, 2020 1 hr ago. Some of the allies thought of the epidemic as a biological warfare tool of the. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the influenza pandemic of 1918 in the united states, its economic effects, and its implications for a modernday pandemic. Its death toll is unknown but is generally considerd to be more than 50 million. Barry, who wrote an influential book on the 1918 pandemic, says that lying. Influenza pandemic of 1918 south carolina encyclopedia. How about like this or have paper masters custom write you a historically based research paper on the flu pandemic of 1918. History of 1918 flu pandemic pandemic influenza flu cdc. The virus of the 1918 pandemic likely expressed an antigenically novel subtype to which most humans and swine were immunologically naive in 1918 12,20.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, behind the black death. The influenza virus rarely caused death on its own. A flu pandemic today could kill as many as 80 million people. The difference between the influenza mortality agedistributions of the 1918 epidemic and normal epidemics. The 1918 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the spanish flu, was a category 5 influenza pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly influenza a virus strain of subtype h1n1. A contemporary estimate put the death toll at 21 million, a figure that persists in.
The great influenza pandemic of 1918 dr eric bridson mphil, phd, fibms, fibiol. My father, the reverend james mccaw of lower hutt although by this time engrossed in helping people ill or dying with the dreaded plague breathed a sigh of relief that his son was not on board the tahiti but safe in camp at featherston. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 19181919. The spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. How america struggled to bury the dead during the 1918 flu pandemic. The pandemic spread to remote pacific islands and the arctic. In the united states, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. The most important lesson of the 1918 influenza pandemic. During this same time period world war i was taking place.
How the horrific 1918 flu spread across america the toll of historys worst epidemic surpasses all the military deaths in world war i and world war ii combined. It killed 50 million to 100 million people three to five percent of the worlds population at the time. If that upper estimate is correct, then the flu likely killed between 8 and 10 percent of the young adults in the world. The spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an. Back in 1918, well over 90 percent of the excess mortality was in. Despite killing 675,000 people in the united states and 40 million worldwide, the influenza of 1918 has been nearly forgotten. Flu pandemic 1918 research papers flu pandemic of 1918 is notable for its high mortality rate and is linked to the spread of h1n1 virus. The influenza epidemic of 1918 national archives and. Influenza and pneumonia death rates for 1534 year old persons were more than 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years. But in certain places, as the death toll began to rise, a sense of desperation set in, resulting in dark. I wish more people appreciated the potential scale of the death toll that is possible from a virus that has recently jumped a species boundary into humans. Influenza pandemic of 1918 simple english wikipedia, the. Globally, roughly 500 million people were infected, with a death toll estimated at between 20 million and 50 million. Death from 1918 pandemic influenza during the first world.
Indeed, the 1918 influenza pandemic can be best characterized as many tales of. How the horrific 1918 flu spread across america smithsonian. The story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it. The influenza pandemic of 1918 infected approximately onefourth of the population of the united states and killed an estimated 675,000. Although the death toll attributed to the spanish flu is often estimated at 20. The 1918 influenza pandemic had another unique feature, the simultaneous or nearly simultaneous infection of humans and swine. It was caused by an h1n1 virus with genes of avian origin. A woman in a flu mask during the 1918 flu pandemic. A makeshift flu ward at camp funston, kansas, 1918 national. The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in fouryears of the black death bubonic plague from 47 to 51. The outbreak was caused by influenza type a subtype h1n1 virus. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50.
Neutralizing antibodies derived from the b cells of 1918 influenza pandemic survivors. The influenza pandemic of 19181919 killed more people than the great war, known today as world war i, at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. One man tells of the terrible effect of the influenza pandemic on his family. It started as world war i 19141918 was ending and caused from 20 million to 50 million deaths two to five times as many deaths as the war itself. Influenza epidemic of 1918 university of illinois archives. Influenza pandemic of 191819, the most severe influenza outbreak of the 20th century and among the most devastating pandemics in human history. A new book about the pandemic of 1918 should inspire you. One of the strangest aspects of the currently held wisdom about the pandemic is the curiously low death rate attributed to japan compared. In the twentieth century, major pandemics occurred in 19181919, 19571958, and 19681969. Humphries explains that in one count of 25,000 chinese laborers in 1918, some.
The 1918 flu pandemic was brutal, killing more than 50 million. In conclusion, during wwi, 1918 pandemic influenza had a profound impact on both the military apparatus and the individual soldier, but presumably less on the course of the war. Newark, new jersey and the 19181919 influenza epidemic. The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its. On october 3, 1918, the delaware state board of health met in an emergency session to stem the death toll from influenza. Although, at the time of writing, the global death toll stands at a modest 6,610. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the 1918 spanish flu pandemic. The 19181919 pandemic was the most destructive in recorded history.
However, john barry stated in his 2004 book the great influenza. With medicines advances since then, laypeople have become rather complacent about influenza. An estimated onethird of the earths population got infected during the 1918 global pandemic, and it is believed more than 50 million died. Score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. The influenza pandemic of 19181919 killed more people than the great war. A history of okanogan county, washington, was writing about the 1918 spanish influenza pandemic, which hit the. An estimated 500 million worldwide were infected, and the death toll was anywhere from between 20 to 100 million. A digital encyclopedia the american influenza epidemic. In the early 21st century anxiety over the danger of influenza a virus subtypes h5n1 avian flu and h1n1 swine flu, and the covid19 coronavirus, has revived memories of new zealands worst disease outbreak, the lethal influenza pandemic that struck between october and december 1918. The influenza pandemic of 1918 essay diseasesdisorders.
The conditions of world war i overcrowding and global troop movement helped the 1918 flu spread. How the 1918 flu pandemic revolutionized public health. It lasted for three years, from january 1918 to december 1920. Caperton of the 1918 influenza on armored cruiser no. In 1917 and early 1918, the h1n1 strain of influenza swept the world, reaching new zealand in early summer. The spanish influenza collected more lives than all of the casualties of war in the twentieth century combined. The 19181919 influenza pandemic killed more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history. Deaths associated with influenza pandemic of 191819, japan. The spanish flu pandemic of 1918 gets relatively short shrift in the history books, especially compared to world war i, which helped create the crisis. The history and legacy of the worlds deadliest influenza outbreak. The story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it flu. The 19181919 influenza pandemic killed more people in absolute numbers. The vulnerability of healthy young adults and the lack of vaccines and. How the 1918 flu pandemic revolutionized public health mass death changed how we think about illness, and governments role in treating it.
The spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwideabout onethird of the planets populationand killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 americans. Documentation of the disease is ample, as shown in the records selected from the holdings of the national archives regional archives. New tally of deaths from the 1918 flu outbreak shows that developing countries would be hardest hit by jr minkel. The lowest estimate of the death toll is 21 million, while recent scholarship estimates from 50 to 100 million dead. The influenza pandemic of 1918 was a serious pandemic of influenza. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the united states. The 1918 influenza pandemic in literature and memory by caroline hovanec thesis. The history and legacy of the worlds deadliest influenza outbreak kindle edition by charles river editors. The story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the. The 1918 flupandemic quarantine was profoundly lonely the.
The impact of the pandemic on the united states is sobering to contemplate. The influenza pandemic of 1918 essay the influenza pandemic of 1918 had not only altered the lives of thousands, but the habitual lives of family and work as well. The influenza pandemic of 1918 the influenza pandemic of 19181919 killed more people than the great war, known today as world war i wwi, at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. A devastating death toll some experts place the global death toll of the 1918 influenza epidemic as high as 100 million. Fiction that involves the 1918 influenza epidemicpandemic also called the spanish flu that claimed the lives of 100 million people worldwide. Sequence analysis suggests that the ultimate ancestral source of this virus is almost certainly avian 10, 11. It is an oddity of history that the influenza epidemic of 1918 has been overlooked in the teaching of american history.
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