Flu Epidemic Of 1918 Essay Research Paper

Flu Epidemic Of 1918 Essay, Research Paper

The Flu Epidemic of 1918

Walking down any given street in the year 1918 between the months of June and December, one would take notice of coffins lining the sidewalks. Nobody was on the streets, and dead bodies were stuffed into every available space. The Flu Epidemic of 1918 not only was the most devastating event of the twentieth century, but propelled the United States to search for a vaccine that has not yet been found, causing concern that the flu will strike again.

Influenza has been around almost as long as people have walked the earth. Its roots draw back as far as 412 B.C., when a man named Hippocrates wrote of an uncontrollable outbreak of a disease that closely resembles influenza. This pandemic devastated an entire Athenian army, and has since occurred approximately every one hundred years (Persico 30). However, in 1918, influenza was somewhat different. It became popularly known as the Spanish influenza. This is slightly a misnomer because although it became widely known in Spain during the spring of 1918, it had been noticed on British army bases in France in 1917 (Carter 18). This new virus became extremely deadly in a short amount of time. Nobody could form a good reason as to why it had appeared. Scientists hypothesized that it came from poison gases formed from exploding ammunition, decomposing bodies, and carbon dioxide from trenches, which fused together, forming a toxic vapor (Persico 81). Because it had swept upon the world so quickly, a cure was not available. The influenza of 1918 took people in a matter of days. A victim could be walking around feeling perfectly healthy one morning, be bedridden by nightfall, and have died before daybreak. Doctors were baffled, and gave vaccines that didn t work. When one doctor was asked what the vaccine contained of, he said the vaccines were just a soup made of blood and mucus of flu patients that had been filtered to get rid of large cells and debris (Kolata 23).

This particular epidemic of influenza was proven to have existed before the breakout in Spain. It had made three waves during a two-year period. Each new assault became more infectious. Over twenty thousand people died in New York City alone, and the only country not affected, Australia, possesses strict quarantine regulations (Is another influenza pandemic coming soon., 1997). The epidemic passed through army bases and boats among other countries before spreading through the United States. In fact, before influenza struck, it was ranked tenth behind heart disease, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and cancer. On August 12, 1918, Mrs. Olsen became the first person to die of influenza, beginning the killing streak that would make influenza the number one killer (Persico 30). It spread like wildfire, with one person falling ill, followed by another, 107 by afternoon, 522 by the end of the week, and 1,127 suffering with 46 dead five weeks later. Nevertheless, these occurred before influenza was discovered, and pneumonia was blamed for deaths (Persico 28).

There have been about 20 million reported deaths due to the influenza of 1918. The doctors were too overwhelmed by the many cases they had to care for, which brought about many unreported cases, causing this minuscule number. One fateful day in October 759 people died in Philadelphia (Kolata 19-20). The epidemic spread so far so fast that public officials became frantic looking for ways to fend off the virus. Arrests were made for spitting and coughing, public meetings were prohibited, and a series of medical procedures were all attempts to prevent the virus from entering victims lungs (Persico 83).

This new influenza baffled researchers and doctors everywhere. Up to this point, all viral diseases has spread prominently throughout heavily populated areas and into the lungs of the very young, very old, or sickly. On the contrary, the Influenza of 1918 swept through the Midwest and preyed on the young and healthy. There was virtually nothing that could stop it, and at one point, over ten percent of America s workforce was bedridden (Is Another Soon., 1997). One newspaper ran an article stating what people could do to prevent acquiring influenza. Chew food carefully, avoid tight clothes, tight shoes, and tight gloves, and breathe as much fresh air as possible. Nothing worked (Persico 31). People walked through New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Tokyo with masks constructed of antiseptic white cotton over their mouths (Carter 19). Men were forced to line up before work each morning in order to get their throats sprayed with antiseptic in order to prevent the flu. While the war raged on, 2,700 men died in battle during a single week in October. That same week 21,000 Americans died of influenza in the United States (Persico 28). World War I took a total of 8.5 million lives during its entirety, but influenza eradicated more than 20 million. Nobody knows the true number, as many deaths were attributed to pneumonia, whooping cough, tuberculosis, and heart disease (Carter 19).

For decades doctors have been in search of what caused the great Influenza Epidemic of 1918. Even more have dedicated their research to finding a cure for the next outbreak. Soon after the flu made its mysterious disappearance, it was discovered that while influenza reigned over America, numerous hog breeders found their pigs deathly