The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

     While it is often overlooked or lightly reviewed both in world and United States history, the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 was a chronic widespread breakout of disease in which individuals around the world were continually becoming infected by the influenza virus. According to numerous sources, the flu pandemic actually took the lives of more people than did the entire four-year period of World War I, with estimates found between twenty and fifty million killed in comparison to the approximate eighteen million lost through the Great War conflict. Characterized as one of the most severe illness epidemics and often compared to the severity of the Bubonic Plague of the fourteenth century, it becomes more difficult for individuals to fathom how one of the most common and treatable viruses today could have eliminated such a large sector of the world's population at the time of the outbreak. So, what caused such an event like this to take place?
      The simple answer to this question is the rapid widening of a particularly strong disease form with virtually no immunization solutions. In accordance with organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus known as influenza is one that alters with each year, despite its regular occurrence during both the fall and spring. Now, a new vaccine is developed every year that targets the specific viral structure and system of the flu that is most prevalent in the atmosphere. However, not all inoculations are entirely successful in preventing the spread of such contagions, and some strains of the flu, particularly the one witnessed in 1918, was one in which there was practically no immunity to its severe effects, causing the mortality rate for one infected by the flu to skyrocket from less than 0.1% to 2.5% worldwide. The first instance of this malady was identified in a more mild form in the spring of 1918 in which few individuals died at all. However, another occurrence of the same virus appeared later in the fall of the same year and presented a more severe impact on the people. With the daily maritime travel of the war and the expansive geographical sector of the world on which the war was fought as well as the increase in global trade routes, the potent illness that was first identified in Europe was able to make its way to North American and Asia, killing an even larger quantity of people. Contrary to what most individuals may assume to be true, the plague was equally as rampant in rural areas as urban regions, causing the life expectancy for Americans to decrease by twelve years. Possible solutions were mentioned, including those of creating various office hours for corporations in some areas of a city so that they did not align with others, ideally reducing traffic in places like public transport, but this only proved minimally successful. The fever did not diminish completely until 1920, and to this day, it represents one of the greatest tragedies ever encountered in all of world history.

Works Cited:
https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
http://www.history.com/topics/1918-flu-pandemic
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/