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The 1918 influenza epidemic
I find these numbers stunning. They're from a paper by Elizabeth Brainerd of Williams College and Mark Singer of California State University.
The 1918-19 influenza epidemic killed at least 40 million people worldwide and 675,000 people in the United States, far exceeding the combat deaths experienced by the US in the two World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam combined. Besides its extraordinary virulence, the 1918-19 epidemic was also unique in that a disproportionate number of its victims were men and women aged 15 to 44, giving the age profile of mortality a distinct 'W' shape rather than the customary 'U' shape, and leading to extremely high death rates in the prime working ages.
This brief historic background puts the influenza epidemic in context.
Only three epidemics in world history resulted in mortality approaching or exceeding the mortality caused by the 1918 influenza epidemic: the Plague of Justinian in the sixth century (100 million lives lost over 50 years), the Black Death of 1348-1351 (62 million), and the current AIDS epidemic (25 million)
You can read the "The Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic" here .
1918 flu --- which is what is commonly called now a type of "bird flu". This is NOT the same as the so called "swine flu".
Half of U.S. Army deaths in France during WW I were due to influenza. Half.
There were deaths in all of the "developed" world, today researchers suggest that it is likely that soldiers brought the flu home with them from the front in France and Belgium-- accelerating the spread. A true crisis developed. Even the 1918 Stanley Cup ice hockey tournament was cancelled, never played.
The swine flu should not be expected to be anything like that.
The last time we heard about this, there was again a world wide semi-panic. I think that was around 1977. I know, it was so absolutely devastating that nobody has forgotten--- (satire of course). Deja vu.
jp
