Spanish Flu: The Deadliest Infectious Disease in History

Darmankade Editorial Team List of Infectious Diseases Last updated: 1 year ago Published: 6 years ago No question

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per year In 1918, a wave of influenza called the Spanish flu caused a pandemic in the world that spread rapidly and killed everyone. Old, young, sick and healthy people were all infected with this disease and at least 10% of the patients died.

The statistics of deaths caused by this disease vary, but it is believed that a third of the world's population was infected and at least fifty million people lost their lives, so that the Spanish flu became the deadliest infectious disease of the modern era. Although at that time the name of the Spanish flu was given to this disease, it is unlikely that the virus originated in Spain.

What was the cause of the Spanish flu?

The outbreak of the disease began in 1918, that is, during the last months of the First World War, and historians today believe that the war may have contributed to the spread of the virus. The soldiers of the western front, who lived in cramped, dirty and damp conditions, fell ill. The main and direct cause of this was the lowering of the soldiers' immune system due to malnutrition. Their disease, which was called "la grippe" (influenza), was contagious and spread among the soldiers. Within three days of the illness, many soldiers would get better, but not all of them would survive.

In the summer of 1918, at the same time as the battalion returned home for leave, they brought the unknown virus that had caused their illness back home and to the city. The virus spread in the cities and villages of the country where the soldiers live. The recovery process of many infected people, both soldiers and civilians, was not fast. The effect of the virus on young people between the ages of 20 and 30 who were previously healthy was greater.

Nurses fighting the Spanish flu

Why did they name this disease the Spanish flu?

Spain was one of the first countries in which the virus was diagnosed, but historians believe that this issue is probably the result of wartime censorship. Spain was neutral during the Civil War and did not impose strict censorship on the press, so it was free to publish the first signs of the disease. As a result, people mistakenly thought that this disease was specific to Spain and the name "Spanish flu" originated from here.

Even according to Henry Davis' book called "Spanish flu", in the late spring of 1918, the Spanish news service informed the Reuters office in London that "a strange type of disease that has the characteristics of a contagious virus has been observed in Madrid. Its epidemic level is mild and no deaths have been reported. Within two weeks after this report, more than 100,000 people were infected with influenza. Between 30 and 40% of people who worked or lived in closed places such as schools, barracks and government buildings contracted the virus. Medical resources and services could not cope with the demand.

The term "Spanish flu" quickly became popular in London. According to Niall Johnson's book "Britain and the Contagious Influenza 1918-19", the English press blamed the Spanish climate for the flu outbreak: "The dry and windy climate of Spain in the spring made for an unpleasant and unhealthy season" (quoted from an article in The Times). Germ-laden dust was said to be blown by Spain's strong winds, meaning Britain's humid weather prevented flu from spreading in the country.

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What were the symptoms of the flu?

Among the initial symptoms of the disease were headache and fatigue along with short and dry coughs, loss of appetite, digestive problems, and then excessive sweating on the second day. Then the disease affected the respiratory organ and could become pneumonia. Humphreys explains that often pneumonia or other respiratory complications from the flu were the main cause of death. For this reason, it is difficult to determine the exact statistics of deaths due to influenza because the cause of the patient's death was often something other than influenza.

The virus was spreading rapidly in other countries of the European continent until the summer of 1918. The disease had gripped Vienna, Budapest and Hungary, and parts of Germany and France were also affected. Reports of sickness and absenteeism of many children from German schools were published, and the illness of munitions factory workers caused a reduction in production.

June 25, 1918, the flu that was prevalent in Spain reached Britain. This epidemic in July affected the London cloth trade so much that according to the book "The Spanish Influenza of 1918-1919: A New Perspective"; 80 workers out of 400 workers in a factory fell ill in just one day. Public servant absences in London due to the flu were reported to be 25-50% of the workforce.

The Red Cross and Spanish Flu Deaths

How many people died?

By the spring of 1919, the number of deaths from the Spanish flu was declining. Since medical professionals were unable to prevent the spread of the disease, different countries were devastated by the emergence of the disease. This situation was similar to the situation 500 years ago when the Black Death (Plague) caused chaos around the world.

Nancy Bristow explains in her book "American Contagious Disease: Worlds Lost in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic" that this virus affected 500 million people around the world. At that time, this number constituted a third of the world's population. 50 million people died from the virus, but the true number is said to be much higher.

Bristow estimates that about 25% of the US population contracted the virus, and that number reached 40% among the US Navy, due to the conditions of service at sea. By the end of October 1918, the flu had claimed the lives of 200,000 Americans, and Bristow claims that a total of over 675,000 Americans had died from the disease. The impact of these deaths on the population was so severe that the life expectancy rate in America was reduced to 12 years during 1918.

So many corpses were piled up that cemeteries were saturated and families had to dig their own graves for their relatives. The death of farmers affected the harvest of late summer crops. A lack of manpower and resources in the UK has also put pressure on other services, including waste collection.

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The disease has also spread to Asia, Africa, South America and the South Pacific. In India, fifty out of every 1,000 people died, which is a shocking statistic.

Examining the Spanish flu in the US military

How does this disease compare to seasonal flu?

The Spanish flu is by far the deadliest infectious flu in history, killing approximately 1-3% of the world's population.

Newest Influenza that can be compared to the Spanish flu occurred in 2009-2010 after the emergence of a new strain of H1N1 influenza. The disease was called "swine flu" because the virus that causes the disease is similar to the virus found in pigs (not because pigs are the cause of the disease).

Swine flu causes a respiratory illness that kills between 151,700 and 575,400 people worldwide in one year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This number includes approximately 0.001 to 0.007% of the world's population, so the impact of this disease was much less than the Spanish flu of 1918. Almost 80% of swine flu deaths occurred in young people under the age of 65, which was unusual. Usually, 70 to 90% of deaths due to seasonal influenza occur in people over 65 years of age.

Today, the swine flu vaccine is among the annual anti-influenza vaccines. Of course, a number of people still die from the flu every year, but the average death toll is much lower than that of the swine flu or the Spanish flu. According to the World Health Organization, the annual epidemic of seasonal influenza affects a total of three to five million people and 290 to 650 thousand people die.

Similarities between the Spanish flu and the corona virus

First, it seems that the origin of both diseases is from animals. Research on the gene of the H1N1 virus in the Spanish flu shows that the deadliest wave of the disease originated from a bird, but no one knows for sure its exact type or origin. Corona test registration

Similarly, health experts believe that before the transmission of the Covid-19 virus to humans, an animal was its host, but the type of animal has not yet been determined.

This brings us to another comparison. The Spanish flu became more dangerous after an apparent mutation. Corona virus strains are also known to mutate relatively easily and quickly.

In fact, according to an article edited by the editor of MedicineNet, Dr. Charles Patrick Davis; This has been repeated twice before: "Past mutations led to the emergence of SARS in 2002-2003, when the virus from civet cats mutated and was transmitted to humans. In 2012, a type of corona virus in Ascension Arabia that originated in camels led to the outbreak of disease in humans and we faced the outbreak of MERS."

Secretaries and the Spanish flu

Death rate of the Spanish flu against the corona virus (Covid-19)

According to Dr. Tabenberger, the death toll from the Spanish flu is much higher than It was seasonal flu. It is estimated that the casualty rate was more than 2.5%. This means that out of every hundred people who contracted this disease, on average, more than two and a half people died. Dr. Tubenberger says the death rate from other contagious influenzas was less than 0.1%. Comparing statistics is difficult, since new information about Covid-19 is collected by different organizations and governments in different ways, it takes a lot of effort to determine the exact death toll of this disease. But according to a study published in JAMA in February, the fatality rate reaches 2.3%, which is almost the same as the statistics related to the Spanish flu.

The difference between the Spanish flu and the corona virus

But the Spanish flu differs from the corona virus in important ways. According to the National Geographic news agency, the Spanish flu killed people so quickly that according to reports, many people woke up feeling sick one morning and died on the way to work.

But perhaps the most important difference between these two infectious diseases is related to the time of their occurrence. The Spanish flu was parallel to the First World War, which was helped by the rapid spread of the disease by the movement of the battalion from one place to another. Instead, in order to prevent the rapid spread of the corona virus, many nations have imposed travel restrictions to areas where the virus has a high prevalence.

Use the online corona test to check the possibility of contracting the corona virus.

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