THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918 – The Spanish Flu

With the rapid spread of the Coronavirus across the globe, a sense of fear and panic has instilled itself into our minds. In such trying times, a lot of scientists and historians have started recollecting previous such incidents when, the entire world had come to a standstill. One such important pandemic that shook the whole world, and that too at a time when the world was already in a state of chaos, is the Spanish Flu of 1918 (or the 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic).

A health poster displayed on Alberta’s (Canada) provincial board

The First World War began in the year 1914, and lasted up until November 1918. Our history textbooks teach us in detail about the First War, the years in between the two World Wars (the interwar years), and then subsequently the Second World War. However, unknowingly, we happen to miss another very important event that took place between the two Wars. This is the Spanish Flu, that started in the month of January of 1918. [Note that it began months before World War 1 ended]. One very surprising finding about the H1N1 virus is that till date, nobody knows the exact reason how the Flu began in the first place. Still, there are a lot of theories that scientists have speculated upon. One such prominent theory is this – in the war years the soldiers lived in brutal conditions, with their bodies buried in the trenches where they lived, for a fairly long time. In such, extremely unhygienic conditions, a cold was pretty common. But before anyone could realise, these symptoms of a normal cold and cough rapidly turned into the most vicious type pneumonia. Soon after the person would start gasping for breath, as their hands and feet started turning blue, and before you knew it, all movement stopped. People died of the Flu within hours, and if lucky, days.

The American Red Cross nurses tend to flu patients in temporary wards set up inside Oakland Municipal Auditorium, 1918.

Now, starting right from the top. As said before, the origins of the Flu are unknown till date. But the first known case was reported in Kansas, on the 11^th of March 1918. The Spanish Flu affected USA the worst. Doctors and scientists across the world, still, for months, believed that the Flu was nothing more than a wave of common cold, which was pretty common back in the War times. But then, the death toll rapidly rose. What made the conditions even worse, was the fact that because of the War, most of the medical and health professionals were scattered across the globe, taking care of the severely wounded soldiers. The Flu spread like wildfire as thousands of soldiers came in contact with another set of soldiers, and the circle continued.

Trenches during World War 1

After a few months, the rage of the Flu reduced, and the death toll subsequently also went down. However, the crisis was far from over. By September of the same year, the Flu returned, with a fury, even worse than before. As the War was slowly coming to an end, thousands of soldiers started returning to their homeland. Specifically, in Philadelphia in America, the director of the Public Health Association, insisted that the symptoms were of a normal Flu and that nothing was as serious as it had been demonstrated by the media. So, the people of the city flocked in groups of thousands in September 1918, to welcome home their injured soldiers. Before you knew it, the disease spread like wildfire once again, and over 1000 people were dead in Philadelphia in a matter of just 10 days.

Tokyo in 1918

The pandemic that was earlier ignored, could now no longer be avoided. Local shops across the world started shutting down, masks were distributed by the governments to people across the globe, and those showing symptoms of even a common cold, were quarantined. All in all, the Spanish Flu of 1918, infected an estimate of 500 million people, which was around a quarter of the population of the world, at the time, and killed approximately 20-50 million people, making it one of the deadliest pandemics of all times. In US alone, it killed 6,75,000 people. What is peculiar about this Flu, is that it mainly targeted healthy, young adults between the age of 20-40 years, a characteristic which is very unlikely for a virus. Usually, virus’s attack people who are either very young or on the older side.

American Expeditionary Force victims of the Spanish flu at U.S. Army Camp Hospital, France, in 1918

The pandemic ended in the Summer of 1919, mostly because a majority of the global population had either already been infected once, and were now immune to it, or because most of the infected, were already dead. During this period of 1918-19, because of the mass deaths that took place in such a short time, the bodies outside the graveyards started piling up and eventually, people buried the bodies of their own, by themselves in their backyards itself. The conditions in these years were already terrible because of the War and worsened even more as the Flu broke out – hospitals started filing up quickly not just with the infected patients, but also with the heavily injured soldiers. Additionally, there was no vaccine available at the time either. In the year 1918, children would sing songs while playing, which revolved around the deadly Flu. They went along these lines –

Mass graves being dug for flu victims who died in Philadelphia

The name ‘Spanish Flu’ is very misleading. The reason the Flu was called this is not because it originated in Spain. During the First World War, Spain was a neutral territory and was not as badly affected as the rest of the world. As a result, its media and press was constantly up on its toes, waiting for news. The rest of the world did not report much about the Flu, fearing that it would affect the morale of its soldiers. However, since Spain was a neutral territory, the Flu gained a lot of attention there. There was a constant report on the spread of the Flu, it’s symptoms and the fatalities. Therefore, people started believing that the Flu had begun in Spain, and soon it got dubbed as ‘The Spanish Flu’.

102 years, after the deadly Spanish Flu ended, the world has been struck down by another pandemic the Coronavirus or COVID-19. What is different this time, is that we have an example in front of us that provides with a proof of what can happen when the guidelines provided by the Health Officials, are not taken seriously. The Spanish Flu, killed millions because it wasn’t taken as seriously by the people. As they say,

‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’

COVID-19 symptoms

This time, we can do our part, by simply sitting at home. The advantage that we hold this time, is that medicine has advanced significantly since 1918. Although no vaccine has been developed for the COVID-19, as yet, we still have one hand on the steering wheel. If our doctors are out there risking their lives, every single day, the least we can do is sit at home and entertain ourselves. Please make sure that you only step out if it is absolutely essential. Listen to your government and the health care professionals. They surely know better than us and the WhatsApp forwards, that we so often receive. Stay home and Stay safe. ?

Protect yourself and others [Image Courtesy – WHO]

Sources:

https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Here’s a video on the Spanish Flu –

Since all of us are now stuck at home, I’ve decided to publish more frequently. So, rest assured, you will have plenty of entertainment 🙂