Akina Shirayama
ENG 101
In 1918, horrific disease was starting to spread among the world. It
lasted from March 1918 to mid-1919. “It sickened at least one-quarter of the
world’s population, 2 to 4 percent of whom died” (1), and “The flu killed 40 to
50 million”.(1) Also, “In the United States, an estimated 25 million people
became ill and 675,000 died.”(1) It must be a very strong virus that can cause
this kind of tragedy. However, it has been a mystery that where those viruses
are from.
Basically, this influenza is known as the bird flu which is directly
transmitted from bird to human. Like in Wikipedia, “recent research of
Taubenberger et al has suggested that the 1918 virus, like H5N1, could have
arisen directly from an avian influenza virus.”(2) However, some say the
virus was made by medical doctor on purpose of making profit from selling
vaccine. By the source of (3), the vaccine was invented to prevent a disease
but it was unscientific and including danger. “The first World War was of a
short duration, so the vaccine makers were unable to use up all their
vaccines. As they were (and still are) in business for profit, they decided to
sell it to the rest of the population. So they drummed up the largest
vaccination campaign in U.S. history. There were no epidemics to justify it so
they used other tricks. Their propaganda claimed the soldiers were coming
home from foreign countries with all kinds of diseases and that everyone
must have all the shots on the market.”(3) Also, (4) says, “There was seven
times more disease among the vaccinated soldiers than among the
unvaccinated civilians.” Moreover, vaccine makers called the flu Spanish
Influenza to direct the blame away from themselves.
First, the Spanish influenza was found in army camps in the U.S. It
caused soldiers “a quick onset of illness, high fever, severe headaches, torpor,
nosebleeds, a blood-producing cough, and cyanosis – a blue cast to the skin
caused by lack of oxygen in the blood.”(1) Besides, the flu sufferers commonly
described feeling like they "had been beaten all over with a club."(3) And it
usually killed people from complications of pneumonia. While influenza
usually kills kids and old, “It killed both the weakest and the strongest in
society” (1) Plus, many people who got the flu died on the next day. These
facts also let us know how strong the virus was. “When influenza reached as
locality, it often caused a sort of social paralysis”(1) such as flooded bed and
closing schools. “Influenza also took a toll on war mobilization and
undermined Army training and transport plans.”(1)
This Spanish Influenza had three waves. First, it “appeared in March
1918 in the American Midwest and from there spread to soldiers in several
U.S. Army training camps. The virus then traveled to Europe, probable
aboard troopships, to the Western Front”(1) ”Mutating into an especially
virulent strain that exploded worldwide in August 1918. This deadly second
wave of flu appeared simultaneously in the Atlantic ports of Boston, Brest
(France), and Freetown (Sierra Leone).”(1) “From Boston, influenza struck
Army trainees at nearby Camp Devens, Massachusetts, during the week of
September 7, and from there swept the country south and west”(1) “It hit
Kansas on September 21, northern California and Texas on September 27,
and by the week of October 16 the epidemic was nationwide.”(1) In the third
wave, from about mid-November, the flu had subsided but still deadly.
In October, “Congress approves a special $1 million fund to enable
the U.S. Public Health Service to recruit physicians and nurses to deal with
the growing epidemic. US Surgeon General Rupert Blue set out to hire over
1000 doctors and 700 nurses with the new funds. The war effort, however,
made Blue's task difficult. With many medical professionals already engaged
in lending care to fighting soldiers, Blue was forced to look for some recruits
in places like old-age homes and rehabilitation centers.”(５) However, at
that time, antibiotics and other techniques such as mechanical ventilators
were not developed to solve this flu.
I guess many survivors had money and they could get treatments to
overcome the flu. For example, “While the medical men and medical
hospitals were losing 33% of their flu cases, the non-medical hospitals such
as Battle Creek, Kellogg and Macfadden’s Health-Restorium were getting
almost 100% healings with their water cure, baths, enemas, etc., fasting and
certain other simple healing methods, followed by carefully worked out diets
of natural foods. One health doctor didn’t lose a patient in eight years.”(3) I
think only wealthy people have chance to have those therapy. What’s more, if
it is true that the virus is made by doctor and doctor shot soldiers, the people
who didn’t related to those soldiers may less possibility to get the flu. Or it
might be luck. Because this influenza didn’t choose people such as it hurt
young and strong men besides kids and old, we don’t know who would get the
influenza. Through the research, it made me feel that the cause of a virus is
artificial and it was made by doctor. People have lived for long time, but this
flu was occurred suddenly. And it was so strong that people couldn’t manage
it. However, I guess it was bird flu and people couldn’t deal with new kind of
flu because they didn’t have immunity against it and other technologies. Also,
Hong Kong flu caused by virus of birds had similar symptom such as dying
from combinations with pneumonia. I think we can reduce the toll now
because we have developed technology and we have experienced the tragedy.
(１)
http:/find.galegroup.com/gvrl/infomark.do?&contentSet=EBKS&type=retrie
ve&tabID=T001&prodId=GVRL&docId=CX3454200144&source=gale&user
GroupName=cuny_laguardia&version=1.0
(２）
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
(３）
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/sf1.html
(４)
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2006/09/04/the_flu_1918_and_now.h
tm
(５)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/timeline/index.html