The most devastating global flu epidemic was experienced around the globe in 1918. No area of the world was left untouched during this far reaching flu outbreak and people of all ages were its targets. The spread of the flu of 1918 was escalated by World War I soldiers stationed around the world being stricken with the illness. This epidemic touched the lives of both the young and aged. It was so overwhelming that the mortuaries were unable to keep up with the bodies and began lining the streets with color coded caskets that denoted the age ranges of the deceased.
In the summer of 1918 during World War over 1 million soldiers left the states for battle destinations throughout Europe. Many of these soldiers were infected with what was thought to be the common "3 day flu" but was later found to be the start of the spread of the deadly global flu epidemic of 1918. Soldiers from around the world were dodging bullets yet unable to stand up against the raging flu epidemic. This pandemic flu became know as the "Spanish Influenza" because so many Spaniards were stricken with over 8 million cases being reported within their camps.
With the returning U.S. soldiers, the autumn of 1918 saw a local resurgence of the flu outbreak at Camp Devans just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. By the end of October more than 17,000 soldiers at this one base were diagnosed with the deadly virus resulting in the deaths of more than 800 young, strong soldiers. In a desperate attempt to stop the spread of flu, theaters, churches and all public arenas were closed. A law was enacted requiring all citizens to wear protective gauze masks when in public areas but the minute microbes were able to escape through the porous masks. By November of 1918 over 21 million people around the world lost their lives. In the 10 months that the flu was raging in the United States, more people lost their lives to this epidemic than the soldiers in combat.
At any point, several flu viruses may be circulating causing flu outbreaks in different parts of the world. Influenza is a virus that is constantly changing which results in different strains each year causing individuals to be infected during following years. With each year new vaccines are formulated to protect against the new influenza strains. Sudden changes in the virus create additional subtypes that will leave the population without vaccine protection and cause epidemics of world wide proportion.
The Asian and Hong Kong influenzas in 1957 and 1968 were of less severity than the 1918 pandemic due to earlier vaccines and better medical care and treatment options. The 1997 Avian flu was spread to children by infected chickens in Hong Kong. The chickens were eliminated which helped reduce the spread of the virus but there is concern that this strain will reoccur with the possibility of another pandemic outbreak.
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