Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Flu Pandemic of 1918: March 1918-June 1920


Trolley conductor in Seattle refusing boarding to those
without masks during Flu Epidemic of 1918

Like the current swine flu scare, the 1918 flu epedemic, also called the Spanish Flu, was caused by a deadly strain of the H1N1 virus. It is called a pandemic because it spread to nearly every part of the world (including the arctic area) infecting about 600 million people However, it is estimated that about 50-100 million people were killed which was about 3% of the world's population.(The world was peopled by 1.6 Billion at the time) It is the most deadly pestilence in human history; in contrast World War I took 15 million lives.

The strain was highly unusual as it struck primarily young adults and otherwise healty adults because in its mode of attack, the virus overwhelmed the strong immune systems of these people; those with stronger immune systems would presumably have a greater overreation.

There were two waves; the first, from March through August 1918 acted like the typical flu, striking down the weak, the elderly and sick. But, then the virus mutated to a more deadly form spreading rapidly throughout France, The United States and Sierra Leone. It rapidly spread to the battlefields of Europe, the trenches and then spread to the cities by army personnel on the move. It is surmised that soldiers were particularly susceptible due to malnourishment, stresses of combat and the chemical warfare.

In the U.S about 28% of the population suffered and about 600,000 people died.

1 comment:

  1. God bless Dr Godwin for what he have done in my life,I’m here to testify about what Dr godwin did for me. I have been suffering from (GENITAL HERPES VIRUS) disease for the past 4 years and had constant pain and inching, especially in my private part. During the first year, I had faith in God that i would be cured someday.This disease started circulating all over my body and I have been taking treatment from my doctor, few weeks ago I came across a testimony of Rose Smith on the internet testifying about a Man called Dr Godwin on how he cured her from 7 years HSV 2. And she also gave the email address of this man, advise anybody to contact him for help on any kind of diseases that he would be of help, so I emailed him telling him about my (HSV 2) he told me not to worry that I was going to be cured!! Well, I never doubted him I have faith he can cure me too,, Dr Godwin prepared and sent me Healing Oil, Soap, roots and herbs which I took. In the first one week, I started experiencing changes all over me, after four weeks of using his Roots/ Herbs, Oil and Soap, I was totally cured. no more inching , pain on me anymore as Dr godwin assured me. After some time I went to my doctor to do another test behold the result came out negative. So friends my advise is if you have such disease or know anyone who suffers from it or any other disease like HPV, HBV, HIV, ALS, HBP, CANCER etc. you can contact Dr.godwin for help via drgodwin52@gmail or whatsapp +2348158184060

    ReplyDelete