*THREAD*

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

The 1918 influenza outbreak or “Spanish flu” spread across the world between 1918 and 1919.

Infecting 500 million people and killed 50 million, making it the deadliest pandemic of modern times.

Because WW1 was in full swing at the time, major countries involved were keen to avoid encouraging their enemies.

Reports of the extent of this pandemic were suppressed in Germany, Austria, France, the UK and the U.S.

Spain was neutral and therefore had no need to keep the flu under wraps.

That created the false impression that Spain was bearing the brunt of the disease.

The name "Spanish Flu" was given.

The first wave of the 1918 pandemic occured in the spring and was pretty mild.

The sick had typical flu symptoms such as chills, fever and fatigue and the number of reported deaths were low

The second, highly contagious wave of influenza appeared in Autumn of the same year.

Victims died within days of developing symptoms

Their skin turned blue (cyanosis) & their lungs filled with fluids causing them to suffocate

It was sometimes called the Purple death

A post claims that in September 1918, Philadelphia prematurely ended quarantine from Spanish flu to throw a parade to celebrate the war effort.

Within 72 hours, the hospitals were full and 4,500 people had died.

The truth is Philadelphia didn't end quarantine to hold the parade.

There had been no quarantine imposed in the first place.

The decision to ban public gatherings, close schools, churches and drinking establishments happened after that.

As soldiers returned to the USA infected with disease, without a vaccine it fell to local health officials to improvise plans.

But the pressure to appear patriotic at war time as well as a censored media downplaying the disease spread meant many tragic decisions were made

Despite the growing outbreak of Spanish flu in the shipyards, the director of public health, Dr Wilmer Krusen had decided not to cancel the parade.

The rapid deployment of soldiers around the world was the main spreader of the disease.

In late August 1918, military ships carrying troops unknowingly infected with the newer, deadlier strain of flu, departed Plymouth and landed in Brest in France & Boston in America

A parade was held in Boston in late August and some soldiers reported to the Commonwealth Pier sick bay wirh high fever, joint pain & debilitating weakness.

Within days, the illness had spread like wildfire through Boston's large military population

On 3rd September, sailors and civilian navy yard workers marched through the city of Boston in a "Win the war for Freedom" rally.

Some of these Boston sailors were then shipped out to the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

Within days of their arrival, 600 men were hospitalised & 2 died.

A week before the Philadelphia parade happened on the 28th September 1918.

On October 3 1918, Philadelphia closed all schools, churches, theatres and other gathering places.

In Tuscan Arizona, people were forbidden to venture out in public without a mask.

In Albuquerque a newspaper wrote, "The ghost of fear walked everywhere"

Lies, censorship & propaganda had been critical in the spread of this disease.

And misplaced priorities.

In 1918 the priority was to win the war.

Troops shipped all over the place, despite doctors warnings not to pack them tightly together.

Civilian lockdown had been the best way to fight the spread of a highly contagious disease

But this would have risked crippling war efforts by keeping munitions factory workers & other civilians at home.

The relentless needs of warfare meant people were told to carry on

WWI ended in November 1918

By December 1918, the second wave of the deadly pandemic has subsided.

A third wave erupted in Australia in January 1919 and worked its way back to the UK and the USA.

It is believed that President Woodrow Wilson contracted it during WW1 peace negotiations in Paris in April 1919.

Since 1918 there have been other influenza pandemics

One in 1957 killed around 2 million people worldwide

A pandemic is 1968 killed 1 million worldwide

And thousands died in the swine flu pandemic of 2009

Each pandemic brings renewed attention to the worst of pandemic of all.

The "Forgotten pandemic " or "Spanish flu" whose spread was overshadowed by the deadlines of WW1 and covered up by media blackouts.