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How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America
|
History
| Smithsonian Magazine
Some interesting and chilling take aways from this article which was written before the current viral outbreak
1. May have started in the U.S. in Kansas on a pig farm in conjunction with migratory birds. Not in Spain as previously thought. Troops headed to the WWI theater spread the virus in Europe.
2. The virus mutated as it spread and became more deadly.
3. "Wherever it began, the pandemic lasted just 15 months but was the deadliest disease outbreak in human history, killing between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide, according to the most widely cited analysis. An exact global number is unlikely ever to be determined, given the lack of suitable records in much of the world at that time. But it’s clear the pandemic killed more people in a year than AIDS has killed in 40 years, more than the bubonic plague killed in a century."
(Not in the article, but calling it the Spanish Flu was a misnomer due to the fact that Spain was neutral in WWI so the press was free to report news with out government censorship vs. the other countries in the region. A soon as the illness was observed in Spain it was reported. Hench why it was thought to start there. )
Also just like today the the president decided to take control of information which ended up making things worse.
|
History
| Smithsonian Magazine
Some interesting and chilling take aways from this article which was written before the current viral outbreak
1. May have started in the U.S. in Kansas on a pig farm in conjunction with migratory birds. Not in Spain as previously thought. Troops headed to the WWI theater spread the virus in Europe.
2. The virus mutated as it spread and became more deadly.
3. "Wherever it began, the pandemic lasted just 15 months but was the deadliest disease outbreak in human history, killing between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide, according to the most widely cited analysis. An exact global number is unlikely ever to be determined, given the lack of suitable records in much of the world at that time. But it’s clear the pandemic killed more people in a year than AIDS has killed in 40 years, more than the bubonic plague killed in a century."
(Not in the article, but calling it the Spanish Flu was a misnomer due to the fact that Spain was neutral in WWI so the press was free to report news with out government censorship vs. the other countries in the region. A soon as the illness was observed in Spain it was reported. Hench why it was thought to start there. )
Also just like today the the president decided to take control of information which ended up making things worse.
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