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Worldwide Flu Pandemic Strikes

Worldwide flu pandemic strikes1918 - 1919

Late in the spring of 1918 the Spanish wire service Agencia Fabra sent cables of an unusual nature to Reuter's news service headquarters in London. "A strange form of disease of epidemic character has appeared in Madrid," it said. "The epidemic is of a mild nature, no deaths having been reported." The illness began with a cough, then headache and backache, fatigue, high fever, racing heart, loss of appetite and labored breathing. It usually lasted about three days. Cases had cropped up over the spring and summer in other countries, too, from Norway to India, China to Costa Rica. But in Spain, suddenly 8 million people were down with the bug. And as the summer of 1918 turned to fall, the epidemic lost its mildness: people started to die.

The influenza commonly called "Spanish flu" killed more people than the guns of World War I. Estimates put the worldwide death toll at 21,642,274. Some one billion people were affected by the disease -- half of the total human population. It came at a time when 19 nations were at war and the disruption, stress, and privation of war certainly aided the flu's transmission. It killed people on every continent except Antarctica, with the most lives lost in Asia and the highest percentage of population killed in India. From August 1918, when cases of the flu started looking abnormally high, until the following July when they returned to about normal, 20 million Americans became sick and more than 500,000 died. In October, 1918, the flu reached its peak, killing about 195,000 Americans. About 57,000 American soldiers died from influenza while the U.S. Was at war; about 53,500 died in battle.

There wasn't much doctors could do. In the course of the epidemic nearly every known therapy was tried -- quinine tablets, bleeding, castor oil, digitalis, morphine, enemas, aspirin, tobacco, hot baths, cold baths, iron tonics, and expectorants of pine tar. Little was known about the virus, except that it was contagious. After deaths from the disease began in earnest, many local governing bodies closed down theaters, churches, and other public gatherings. Ordinances made it illegal to spit, cough, or sneeze in public -- with threat of $500 fines in New York City. When people went out they wore gauze masks over their nose and mouth, often soaked in camphor or other medicinal substances.

After months of terrorizing people around the world, the "Spanish lady" (called "The Naples Soldier" in Spain, and a variety of other names around the world) seemed to withdraw. It had been the most dire epidemic since the Middle Ages, the third worst in recorded history. For all its destruction, it did not get much press at the time. War and then peace monopolized the front pages. And still little is known about the origin or nature of the killer virus. Many believe the modern "swine flu" virus is a descendant of the deadly 1918 flu. Some theorize that its stronger ancestor ganged up with a bacteria to wreak havoc on the human population. In recent years, vaccinations against various strains of influenza have been introduced.

MORE TO THE STORY: Spanish Flu: The Silent Killer Of World War I

Pvt. Albert Gitchell was sick. For this there was no doubt. When he reported to the camp infirmary on the morning of March 11, 1918, he lamented that he was feeling hot and achy. The medic on duty recorded the young soldier's temperature at 103 degrees, and noted that he fought a constant bout of chills. It appeared to be nothing more than the flu bug, a common occurrence among the thousands of soldiers living in the dusty tents at Fort Riley, Kansas. Though he deemed it nothing serious, the medic on duty ordered Gitchell to a quarantine tent for some much-needed bedrest.

The doctors on base soon realized it was no ordinary flu that infected Gitchell, as it was a matter of minutes before another soldier reported to the infirmary showing the same symptoms. He was followed shortly by another and another after that. By that afternoon of March 11, 107 soldiers lay in quarantine with flu-like symptoms. By the week's end, the number rose to 522, and by the end of the month it swelled to an astounding 1,127.

Whatever it was, it was far more contagious than a common flu, and the symptoms were devastating. It began like any normal flu. A patient's nose would run, followed by a sore throat, followed by a cough. The "cold-like" symptoms were soon followed with body aches, chills and a loss of appetite. For some it ended there, and in a week or two the sickness was gone. For many others, however, the flu took on a life of its own. The patient's body soon released an uncontrollable immune reaction to the virus, resulting in inflamed lungs that filled with blood that was coughed up in bright red blotches. Once inflammation began, the lungs would fill up faster than they could be emptied, and the victim would suffocate. For many victims, it came on fast, feeling as though they just had a touch of flu, and dying moments later.

It wasn't long before the strange sickness spread beyond the confines of Fort Riley. Hundreds of thousands of young soldiers were training for World War I, and soon the sickness swept across training camps. In a matter of weeks, those same soldiers boarded ships heading for Europe where war-weary soldiers would greet the young American doughboys who coughed, sneezed and spread the sickness onto a new continent.

In the muddy trenches, the flu became worse. Rats, feces, rotting flesh and muddy water created a breeding ground for the virus to mutate, and it became so sinister that contracting the flu became more worrisome than an artillery bombardment or a gas attack. Between enemy fire and the sickness sweeping the trenches, most soldiers thought they would feel the cold finger of death in one form or another.

American and European army officials, as well as governments knew a pandemic was at hand, but in order to keep up national morale, did not report on it. In Spain, however, it was a different story. Spanish journalists reported the deadly sickness sweeping across the trenches and camps, earning its nickname: Spanish Flu.

With an influx of American soldiers, the war in Europe was winding down by the fall of 1918 and troops began coming home. With them traveled a new and more deadly version of Spanish flu. Shipyards in American port cities reported the dead being lifted off ships, relating the corpses to stacks of cordwood. Civilians began wearing masks and hospitals and morgues began to fill with flu victims. Governments enacted curfews and some went so far as to ban public gatherings. It's estimated that over 200,000 people died in October alone.

On Nov. 11, the war in Europe ended, but deaths from the flu did not. Droves of American soldiers returned home to victory parades, parties and celebrations that spread the flu even farther. From Alaska to Antarctica, not one continent was spared a case of Spanish flu.

When the pandemic finally ended in 1919, 50 million people worldwide had died from the flu – 10 million more than the war itself. To this day it is unknown what caused the outbreak. Some blamed the use of chemical warfare, while others blamed it on a German conspiracy to infect their enemies with the sickness. Whatever it was, it was deadlier than any weapon produced at the time for the purpose of killing on a mass scale. The Spanish flu was a silent killer – created by the unknown – and may have played a quiet role in ushering an end to a war that was meant to end all wars.

Originally Published: September 17, 2018 at 1:00 AM CDT

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