Spanish Influenza Research Paper

267 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Spanish flu epidemic 1918

The year 1918 was the deadliest year I’ve ever experienced because the spanish Influenza plague was by the worst thing anyone could experience. I witnessed this plague kill more people in a time span than any other disease. This disease first shown up down in Southeast Alaska around October around a month in I read that in Ketchikan there was 200 cases of this plague. Then around a week later the case count went up to 336 but with seven dead bodies. Every Time I’d grab a paper I’ll see that in different parts of Alaska in different towns that many people was catching this disease in Sitka it was 95 different cases, in Hydaburg around 250 obtained the disease. My hometown Nome got hit dramatically their first outbreak happened around the end

Show More
Related

  • Children's Songs' Popularity in 1918

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    A brief review of the historical year of 1918 when people were informed to take precaution against influenza, while their children came up with a catchy tune for the "worst epidemic the United States has ever known"1 and comparing it with the influenza of today.

    Read More

  • The 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic

    2713 Words  | 6 Pages

    ”2 Although business was booming for these professions, it was not because of the war. It was the result of an unexpected killer that swept across the world, claiming victims at an unprecedented rate. The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic stretched its lethal tentacles all over the globe, even to the most remote areas of the planet, killing fifty million people or possibly even more. Influenza killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century, and it killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years.3 Influenza normally kills the elderly and infants, but this deadly and abnormal strand claimed young people, those in their twenties or thirties as its target victims.

    Read More

  • Spanish Flu Pandemic In 1918

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    The influenza or flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, the deadliest in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and estimates place the number of victims anywhere from 25 to 100 million. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic. The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the U.S. and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. Surprisingly, many flu victims were young, otherwise healthy adults. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain or prevent its spread. In the U.S., citizens were ordered to wear masks, and schools, theaters and other public

    Read More

  • WWI Sources

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ssor Heather MacDougall, “July – 11 November 1918: Pandemic Influenza on the Battlefield and Homefront,” Lecture delivered 9 November, 2011, HIST 191, University of Waterloo

    Read More

  • The Black Death or Buponic Plague: Dead of the Population

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Pandemic Flu History." Home. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 23 Mar.

    Read More

  • The 1918 Flu Pandemic

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most virulent strains of influenza in history ravaged the world and decimated the populations around the world. Present during World War I, the 1918 strain of pandemic influenza found many opportunities to spread through the war. At the time, science wasn’t advanced enough to study the virus, much less find a cure; medical personnel were helpless when it came to fighting the disease, and so the flu went on to infect millions and kill at a rate 25 times higher than the standard.

    Read More

  • Understanding Pandemics: History and Future Possibilities

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1918 to 1919 a flu pandemic broke out known as the Spanish flu. A majority of the people who caught this illness passed on quickly. Others passed on from complications caused by bacteria. An estimated twenty to forty percent of the world’s population contracted the illness.

    Read More

  • Spanish Influenza Outbreak, 1918

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    Between the months of August and November of 1918, Spanish influenza spread quickly across the United States and around the world in epidemic proportions. The disease was thought to have been brought from country to country by sea-faring vessels passing through major port cities around the world, with illness striking men of French troops, the British Royal Navy, civilians in America, and more. The Public Health Service sanitation officer and member of the First Navy District, Dr. William M. Bryan, was aware of the conditions in Boston and was worried by them, where hot, dusty, and dry conditions exacerbated the problem, forcing sailors and soldiers into crowded conditions in Boston, where the close conditions and poor housing aided in the quick spread of influenza from person to person (23). Although influenza itself did not cause the deaths, but caused the pneumonia which did cause deaths, the number of deaths were still striking and rising. The deaths of three men in one afternoon in Quincy, Massachusetts caused the public to take notice. Bostonís church closed on September 22 to keep the public separated from each other (33). The disease proceeded to cause death in large numbers throughout the country. At one point, Philadelphia was stricken with 289 deaths within 24 hours(71).

    Read More

  • Government Responses and Expectations During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 occurred during the midst of World War I, and it would claim more lives than the war itself. The disease erupted suddenly without a forewarning and spread rapidly across the globe. It seemed as though all of humanity had fallen under the mercy of this deadly illness. Influenza had very clear symptoms as described by William Collier in his letter to The Lancet. After a patient seizes their temperature can run up to 105° or more while their pulse averages at about 90 beats per minute. The high temperature and low pulse are frequently combined with epistaxis (nosebleed) and cyanosis (blueness of the skin). The epistaxis is caused by the high temperature and the cyanosis is caused by a lack of oxygen due to the decreased pulse (Kent 34). The author of Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919, Susan Kinglsey Kent, provides a brief history of the pandemic and documents from the time period. Many of the included documents show how unprepared and unorganized governments attempted to contain and control a disease they had never experienced, and how the expectations of the governments changed as a result of their successes and failures.

    Read More

  • The 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic

    1477 Words  | 3 Pages

    Influenza is defined as an acute, commonly epidemic disease, occurring in several forms, caused by numerous rapidly mutating viral strains and characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration. Spanish flu was more than just a normal epidemic, it was a pandemic. Epidemics affect many people at the same time in areas where the disease doesn’t normally occur. A pandemic is an epidemic on a national, international, or global scale. The Spanish flu was different from the seasonal flu in one especially frightening way, there was an unusually high death rate among healthy adults aged 15 to 34 and lowered the life expectancy by more than ten years. Such a high death rate has not occurred in this age group in and epidemic prior to or since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. (Tumpey, 2005)

    Read More

  • The Origins of the Spanish Flu of 1918

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    A few years before 1918, in the height of the First World War, a calamity occurred that stripped the globe of at least 50 million lives. (Taubenberger, 1918) This calamity was not the death toll of the war; albeit, some individuals may argue the globalization associated with the First World War perpetuated the persistence of this calamity. This calamity was referred to the Spanish Flu of 1918, but calling this devastating pestilence the “Spanish Flu” may be a historical inaccuracy, as research and historians suggest that the likelihood of this disease originating in Spain seams greatly improbable. Despite it’s misnomer, the Spanish Flu, or its virus name H1N1, still swept across the globe passing from human to human by exhaled drops of water that contained a deadly strand of RNA wrapped with a protein casing. Individuals who were unfortunate enough to come in contact with the contents of the protein casing generally developed severe respiratory inflammation, as the Immune system’s own response towards the infected lung cells would destroy much of the lungs, thus causing the lungs to flood with fluids. Due to this flooding, pneumonia was a common cause of death for those infected with Spanish Flu. Due its genetic similarity with Avian Flu, the Spanish Flu is thought to be descended from Avian Flu which is commonly known as “Bird Flu.” (Billings,1997) The Spanish Flu of 1918 has had a larger impact in terms of global significance than any other disease has had because it was the most deadly, easily transmitted across the entire globe, and occurred in an ideal time period for a disease to happen.

    Read More

  • The Spanish Flu - Response to the Influenza of 1918

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the time, the Influenza of 1918 was called the Spanish Flu. Spain was not involved in the expanding great war (i.e., World War I) and therefore was not censoring it's press. However, Germany, Britain, and America were censoring their newspapers for anything that would lower morale. Therefore, Spain was the first country to publish accounts of the pandemic (Barry 171 and Furman 326), even though the pandemic most likely started in either France or the United States. It was also unique in it's deadliness; it “killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century” (Barry 5). In the United States, the experience during the pandemic varied from location to location. Some areas were better off whereas some were hit horribly by the disease, such as Philadelphia. It also came as a shock to many, though some predicted it's coming; few thought it would strike with the speed and lethality that it did. Though the inherent qualities of the flu enabled its devastation of the country, the response to the flu was in part responsible as well. The response to the pandemic was reasonable, given the dire situation, but not sufficient enough to prevent unnecessary death and hardship, especially in Philadelphia.

    Read More

  • Economic Impact of the 1918 Epidemic of Spanish Flu

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the United States alone over 700,000 people died, which is greater than the total number of American deaths in both World Wars, The Korean War, and Vietnam, combined. One of the major takeaways from studying the flu epidemic is that it offers a real-life example of what impact population shocks have on economies. Major plaques such as the black plaque lack the data required to arrive at a conclusive analysis, while economic theory is too ambiguous to accurately model the situation. In the case of the 1918 flu epidemic, known commonly as the Spanish Flu, records exist which allow economists to draw conclusions on the impact of population shocks on the world economy. With every pandemic, the initial result is the death of a substantial portion of the population of the impacted area.

    Read More

  • Essay On Swine Influenza

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    The swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease in pigs that is caused by the type A influenza viruses. These viruses are referred to as swine flu viruses but scientifically the main virus is called the swine triple reassortant (tr) H1N1 influenza virus. When the viruses infect humans they are called variant viruses. This infection has been caused in humans mainly by the H1N1v virus in the United States. The H1N1 virus originates in animals due to improper conditions and the food they ingest. The virus stays in latency form, thus harmless to the respective animal. The longer the animals survive the more likely the virus is to develop and strengthen making it immune to vaccines. The virus reproduced through the lytic cycle. The virus injects its own nucleic acids into a host cell and then they form a circle in the center of the cell. Rather than copying its own nucleic acids, the cell will copy the viral acids. The copies of viral acids then organize themselves as viruses inside of the cell. The membrane will eventually split leaving the viruses free to infect other cells.

    Read More

  • Spanish Influenza: Devastating Impact on South Africa

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the deathly Spanish influenza that struck the world in the years 1918 to 1919 had a considerably overwhelming affect on South Africa. The Spanish influenza hit South African society with a blow and it is essential to note that the suffering continued at the same rate even after 1919. South African society was left crippled and insufficient resources further hindered the recovery process; although the Spanish epidemic ended as quickly as it emerged, its aftermath ensured that the suffering of South Africans was

    Read More

More about Spanish Influenza Research Paper

Open Document