1918 Spanish Flu

INFLUENZA IS A RESPIRATORY ILLNESS CAUSED BY SEVERAL FLU VIRUSES 1918 SPANISH FLU The 1918 flu was a new strain that the world had never seen before, so few humans had any natural immunity. The 1918 flu was one of the deadliest pandemics on record, ultimately claiming 50 million lives. 1/3 OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION MAY HAVE BEEN INFECTED (O) The 1918 Flu swept the globe in three waves. Unlike most flu pandemics it was not first reported in Asia and it spread at a time of year that is not usually conducive to seasonal flu. It was dubbed the "Spanish Flu" because reports The 1918 flu was a Type A HIN1 virus that of mass illness first appeared in Spanish scientists now believe came from birds. newspapers. EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA MAR 1918 AUG 1918 Worried officials at Fort Riley, Kansas report several cases of severe flu. By May, large numbers of sick G.I's were reported in Europe. Few civilians noticed this initial wave, which spread unevenly throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. By August, new outbreaks were reported in France, West Africa and Boston, where returning G.I's brought the disease back with them. Within weeks the deadly flu had spread across America. As the weather cooled and moved into traditional flu season, the spread of the virus exploded. This second wave was the deadliest, killing more than 10,000 per week O) 1918-1919 in some American cities. Unusually, the 1918 Flu proved deadliest to healthy Late 1918 through March 1919 saw a third, less fatal wave of the pandemic spread throughout the U.S. and Europe. young adults, with nearly half of all deaths striking those between Almost all cases of human influenza since 1918 20 and 40 have been caused by descendants of the years old. 1918 flu virus. “MOTHER OF ALL PANDEMICS" NORMAL TO SEVERE • LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE • • U.S. IMPACTS • Symptoms included the normal It was difficult for doctors to treat Streets were eerily quiet, and signs of flu infection, such as fever flu victims, and no flu vaccines the few people who ventured and body aches, as well as nausea existed. Many patients were out wore masks. Stores and diarrhea. Patients might later isolated in large wards set up to and schools closed, garbage went develop severe pneumonia, house the infected. Some people uncollected and mail went and their skin would turn blue turned to common drugstore undelivered. Telephone and as their lungs filled with a treatments, like Vicks Vapo-Rub, telegraph services collapsed and bloody substance and which did next to nothing to halt some communities even made they suffocated. the spread of the flu. it a crime to shake hands. THE NUMBERS INFECTIONS DEATHS 500,000,000 50,000,00 Worldwide Estimates 1 IN 4 675,000 American Estimates TakePart SOURCES: CDC, HHS, Red Cross, The New York Times, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times TAKEPART.COM/CONTAGION