Influenza Pandemic In 1918

The influenza pandemic of 1918 is truly one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest, pandemic in the history of human civilization. Casualty counts reached a greater total than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. Influenza is not something to be taken lightly.

It is estimated that for every 100 people, one person did not survive the pandemic. This applies to the entire world.

The impact that this disease made shocked the world, and advanced the importance of being prepared for an outbreak, as well as personal sanitation. The history of the disease is bloody, but little-known.

The Ancestors of the Pandemic In the time of the ancient Greeks, a disease struck the world with a powerful blow. This epidemic

Influenza was largely ignored across the globe. There had been no way to tell that the Spanish Lady had not yet finished her dance. In four months, influenza was ready to make a second round, far more deadly that the first.

Influenza’s Second Strike

By the time the second wave began, influenza had already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Virtually nowhere was safe from the deadly Spanish Lady. The only uninfected place in the entire world was the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha, located in the south Atlantic Ocean. After the first wave of influenza died out in midsummer of 1918, it began to terrorize the globe once more, resurfacing in August of 1918.

The people still saw no clear and present danger from the illness, and continued to attend large gathering and parades. Such celebrations were the perfect place for influenza to spread. Scientists and researchers began to share their finding regarding the disease. One thing became clear very quickly; there was reason enough to fear influenza.

The Spanish Lady commonly attacked the respiratory tract, choking victims in their own body fluid. Victims of influenza can be said to have basically suffocated, running out of airspace in the

Nurses would examine the feet of patients to figure out their race, and those whose feet were so blue from cyanosis that they were back were usually too far gone to save. A physician who was stationed at Fort Devens wrote “you can begin to see the Cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the coloured men from the white.” This wave targeted mainly young adults, instead of elders and children. The reason behind this targeting is unknown.

A gathering of sailors, soldiers, and civilians in Boston set into motion the creating of the first New World focus of influenza for wave two. Masks became a mandatory part of public attire in the city, and fines or jail time became a reasonable punishment for failure to follow laws placed to protect from influenza. People were not allowed to ride street cars if they did not have a mask on their face.

Thousands fell ill across the globe, regardless of the efforts to prevent infection. In Boston city alone, 3,000 cases of influenza and counting were reported. Makeshift hospitals consisting of a multitude of tents were made across the city to try and help keep all the patients on overflow from emergency hospitals accounted