What was the Flu of 1918?
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Stacy Wiegman answered:The Flu of 1918 was also known as the Great Pandemic and the Spanish Flu. It affected 20% to 40% of the population. Over 50 million people worldwide, including more than 675,000 Americans, died during the Flu of 1918. It struck adults between the ages of 20 and 50 particularly hard.
Although it's still not clear why the Flu of 1918 was such a virulent, deadly strain of influenza, scientists are experimenting with genes from tissue preserved from that time and have found that in mice, similar flu viruses are very deadly and damaging to lung tissue.
The Flu of 1918 was also known as the Great Pandemic and the Spanish Flu. It affected 20% to 40% of the population. Over 50 million people worldwide, including more than 675,000 Americans, died during the Flu of 1918. It struck adults... More -
Discovery Health answered:The Flu of 1918 -- also known as the Spanish flu and the Great Influenza -- broke out, as the name indicates in 1918.
By whatever name, the disease killed as many as 20 million people within months. It ran its course in a year's time, but not before killing up to 100 million people worldwide.
This epidemic, and its ensuing pandemic, is considered by many to be the worst epidemic in recorded human history.
The flu of 1918 was a new strain of flu microbe known as the H1N1 avian influenza A virus. Scientists think the disease moved from birds to humans. They suspect that happened in the American Midwest, shortly before the outbreak.
The flu was later dubbed the Spanish flu, following an epidemic in Spain which killed 8 million people.
Worldwide, people were utterly defenseless against the new virus, similar to how the Aztecs were when smallpox arrived in their country during the 1500s.
The Flu of 1918 spread quickly to other continents because of the massive troop transport and supply lines at the end of World War I. The rapid spread of the disease created a pandemic.
Research scientists have used genetic materials found in the lungs of flu victims from 1918 flu to rebuild the H1N1 avian influenza A virus. They hope that studying the deadly virus will better prepare us for outbreaks of new flu viruses.
The Flu of 1918 -- also known as the Spanish flu and the Great Influenza -- broke out, as the name indicates in 1918. By whatever name, the disease killed as many as 20 million people within months. It ran its course in a year's time, but not before... More
