The deadliest period in human history. When do you suppose this might have been? The Second World War? Nope. The Black Plague? Not even close.
No, the deadliest period in human history is one you're not likely to see mentioned in your high school history books: the 1918 flu pandemic. The months of September through December of 1918 comprised the period of the highest intensity of a disease that spread throughout the world over the course of the year. First appearing in the spring as a fairly "normal" influenza remarkable in its virulence if not its mortality, it returned in September, reborn in a truly lethal incarnation, and unleashed itself on the world as if it were Nature's own vengeance.
The most conservative estimates claim that 20 million people died in the event, and recent studies suggest the death toll may have been between 50 to 100 million. If we accept even the most conservative estimate, this pandemic took the lives of nearly five million people each month, a mortality rate that outpaces even the darkest days of the Second World War. The global population at the time was around 1.8 billion, meaning between 1 to 5 percent of the population died from influenza in that year.
Perhaps the horror can be best illustrated by our national life expectancy at the time: in 1917, our life expectancy was 50.9 years; by 1918, it had dropped to 39.1.
It was influenza — only influenza — and the misguided patriotism of the era kept it out of the newspapers. Because of such "patriotic" censorship, most thought the influenza was a local or regional disaster and very few realized the disease was ravaging not only families and communities but the entire nation. In a time when men were jailed for simply suggesting that Germans "weren't such bad people," it was thought unpatriotic to publicly address these health concerns. It would have been considered "fear-mongering," so much so that not once did President Wilson mention it in public, even as it tore through every corner of the nation.
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Article comments
1 - Baritone
Glenn,
Of course you are correct about why various health organizations around the world are fearful and ever vigilent regarding the recurrence of a flu or other pandemic.
While as individuals there is not a great deal we can do to protect ourselves beyond being mindful of personal sanitation measures, we should also remain aware of what in fact is happening in this regard around the world.
There is a bit of irony in all this, though. If one watches the tube - the Discovery and History Channels and the myriad of other media, it seems that we must be fearful of any number of things that, as they say, is "just a matter of time" until they occur that will put large numbers of us in jeopardy and/or may destroy all life on the planet.
The uncontrolled spread of various diseases including flu, SARS, ecoli, Legionaires, HIV and ebola among others are high on the list.
Also, though is the possibility of comet, meteor and asteriod strikes, the effects of some super novas, sun storms. Right here on earth we must be concerned with the effects of climate change, the return of an ice age, the eruption of super volcanos, massive earthquakes, acid rain, el nino, la nina and out of control massive replication of Rob Schneider movies and/or alien invasions (rather the same thing, actually.)
And I haven't even mentioned the ongoing threat of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare.
I feel that I should put together a comprehensive list of all these and any other perceived threats, and each morning getting on line and turning on the tube and the radio and check off each of them before I take a step out the door.
I am not making lite of your article. Among all those things I noted above, it is likely that a pandemic may be the greatest threat we face. The manner in which flu and other virus strains mutate and jump from species to species makes the tracking and containing of them problematic at best.
I just thought I'd throw in the other stuff to put all of it in some persective. Well, I've got to get back to work, and see if anyone has stolen my identity.
B :-)
2 - Ruvy
Glenn,
My mother used to tell me stories of the 1918 flu, and how people would drop like flies.
3 - Tan The Man
Imagine that event now with the relative ease and quickness of global travel, coupled with troubles the overuse of medication/medicine have done to us...
4 - Ruvy
Imagine that event now with the relative ease and quickness of global travel, coupled with troubles the overuse of medication/medicine have done to us...
Good! Now that you've imagined that, imagine if the Bird Flu (which is a close relative to the Spanish Flu that struck in 1918) starts to transmit to humans more easily.... The Bird Flu has spread to fowl all over the world. It makes you look at chickens in a whole new way.
Sabbath meals can get awful scary....
Squawk!
5 - Baronius
Glenn - Very interesting article.
6 - bliffle
My father was in boot camp in, I believe, Georgia, at the time and his buddy got sick and was dying. Dad got him and his litter as close as he could to the hospital, considering that there were thousands of litters surrounding the hospital. When his buddy died, Dad went AWOL and lived off the land until the flu subsided. No one noticed he had been gone. There was no mention of this in the newspapers. Dad said that he thought 100,000 soldiers died of the flu.
7 - Roger Nowosielski
When was that?
Likewise, I find it kind of interesting that our illustrious proponents of the Iraqi was make no mention of the thousands who end up as maimed and physically disabled, not to mention the suicides.
How may suicide have we had, if I may politely ask, during World War II?
Come on, Nally and crowd. Answer this one!
8 - Glenn Contrarian
bliffle -
You're older than I thought - and your dad made a wise choice. That's a really interesting anecdote, and considering the chaos in the nation and particularly the military at the time, totally believable.
9 - bliffle
The methodical coverup by the government and the press is what impressed me. Over the years when I've tried to find out more about the 1918 flu epidemic it's been very frustrating.
Apparently, the warrior class in 1918 was able to suppress the news in order to maintain interest in their then favorite war, "The War To End All Wars", which, like so many others, seems to have failed.
10 - Roger Nowosielski
So nothing really is new. We're standing on a hundred-years-old tradition.
11 - Glenn Contrarian
To all -
I knew this topic wouldn't generate a lot of replies - it's not something that invokes a lot of controversy. I just felt it was important to post it for the sake of spreading a little knowledge that we might all benefit from.
My next topic, though...gonna shoot for that magical '500' replies! I got 496 with my 'socialism' topic, but I think I can do better if I can tick off both the conservatives and my fellow liberals at the same time....
12 - Roger Nowosielski
Why don't you go with an anti-Marxist thesis, Glenn? I'm about to do it shortly, but it won't generate that many responses - only some wrath from the few die-hards.
What was your socialism topic?
13 - Roxanne
It is now believed that the huge death toll from the Spanish flu was caused by "superinfection" with streptococcus pneumoniae. In other words, people infected with the flu also contracted a virulent strep infection, and it was the strep that killed them.
It this is true, then the dire warnings of another pandemic may be exaggerated. Strep is treatable with antibiotics, which were not available in 1918, and there is also a vaccine that protects against a number of Strep pneumoniae strains. So this research puts a whole new twist on influenza pandemics. That's a link to the Reuter's article.