1918 Spanish
Influenza
Epidemic
If you have any
pictures,
stories, newspaper articles, etc. to add, please let me know.
The Spanish Flu originated in Tibet in 1917. As the armies
fighting
in WWI the flu spread with them. When it hit France, it
changed
its character, becoming
deadly. Nearly
half
of the American "doughboys" who died in Europe actually died of
influenza,
not from enemy engagement.
The
fever would
affect
a person in the following way:
(1)
high fevers,
shivers,
coughs, muscular pain and sore throat,
(2)
Tiredness
and
dizzy spells
(3)
Loss of
strength
to the point of not being able to eat or drink without assistance
(4)
Difficulty
in
breathing
(5)
Death
Often the victim would be dead within hours of contracting the flu. The
virus would cause the body to hemorrhage, the lungs would fill
with
liquid and the patient would drown in their own fluids. The
worldwide
death toll was 20 to 40 MILLION, of which half a million is the
estimated
U.S. death toll. Nearly 200,000 of those deaths occurred in the
single
month of October 1918. Some U.S. death estimates are as high as
700,000...10
times the number of Americans who were killed in WWI.
Map of
how the
flu
spread through the us & death rates by month
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/maps/index.html
It briefly reappeared in March, 1919. This time, however, the world was
better prepared and the virus was able to be quarantined. Again it
disappeared
after inflicting a rapid death toll.
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©2001 by Tina
Hursh