The Spanish Flu
The Spanish flu,
also known as the Flu Pandemic-1918, was an uncommonly lethal/
carcinogenic influenza
pandemic. Lasted from January 1918 to December 1920, and it infected
500 million (50 Crores) people – about a third of the
world's population at the time. The death toll was predicted from
17 million to 50 million and probably as high as 100 million,
making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.
The above photograph is Soldiers from Fort Riley, Kansas, ill with Spanish flu at a hospital ward at Camp Funston
If we look forward to the history
of the pandemic in the past, the most influenza outbreaks disproportionately
kill the very young and the very old, with a higher survival rate for those in
between, but the Spanish Flu Pandemic-1918 resulted in a higher than
expected mortality rate for young adults. The Scientists of that era offered various
possible confessions for the high fatality rate of the 1918 influenza pandemic. A few analyses have shown the virus to be
particularly destructive because it provokes a cytokine storm, which demolishes
the power immune system of young people. In contrast, a 2007 analysis
of medical journals from the period of the pandemic observed that the viral
infection was no more destructive than previous influenza anxiety.
Instead, hunger, overcrowded medical camps and hospitals, and poor hygiene promoted
bacterial superinfecting. This super-infecting killed most of the victims,
typically after a considerably prolonged death bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment