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Is humanity experiencing the same thing today? What are the connections between these two pandemics? Take a look at the interesting facts we can compare and learn a lot from.
MUDr. Katarína Kosová
In the last century they have also been in the dark about tents and anti-epidemic measures. As with the new coronavirus, humans had no antibodies to the Spanish flu.
Half of the victims of the Spanish flu were between 20 and 40 years old.
The second wave of flu was the worst
The Spanish flu occurred in three waves, killing 71-50 million people worldwide. About a third of the population at that time was infected – 500 million people. Obviously, the exact data are missing.
The pandemic lasted from February 1918 to the winter of 1919. It is one of the deadliest in human history, its second wave being the worst.
Source: Profimedia
The new coronavirus has so far infected more than 51 million people in nearly a year. So far, about 1.2 million people have died. In the United States it ranks third in the mortality chart, after cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Many still remember the flu H1N1 from 2009which infected about 60 million people in the first year. This virus was not as deadly as the new coronavirus. It killed 151,000-575,000 people around the world.
The outbreak was very unfortunate MERS in 2012, which was much more deadly, but the infection was not as contagious, fewer than 2,500 cases have been reported.
New then and today
Like the coronavirus to us now, the Spanish flu strain was something completely new to our ancestors. Antibodies were absent in the population, which is why mortality was so high.
These two pathogens have in common a high infectivity and the spread of infected droplets, especially when coughing or sneezing.
The Spanish flu has killed about one in ten people infected.
Source: Profimedia
It came in three waves – the first in the spring of 1918 – the second in the fall of that year and – the third in the winter and spring of 1919, according to the CDC.
Symptoms during the first wave were typical of the flu: fever, nausea, joint and muscle pain and diarrhea resulted from full health.
The second wave of Spanish flu was worse: it suddenly killed patients within days or even hours of the first symptoms.
Fluid flooded the lungs and the lack of oxygen caused suffocation. As with COVID-19, the topic of Spanish flu was heavily politicized in the United States at the time.
COVID-19 can be mild or completely asymptomatic. However, people with severe forms die or go to a respirator.
Many have symptoms associated with the nervous system, such as stroke, difficulty in clotting the blood, and heart damage.
After getting over an infection, both mild and severe, people often complain of persistent fatigue or difficulty breathing.
Mobility then and now
The Spanish flu pandemic occurred against the backdrop of the First World War. As today, many businesses have been closed and people have been quarantined.
Like today, people have been advised to wash their hands, not to cough at others, to stay at home, and to stay away from other people.
The requirement to wear a veil met with resistance and many poked a cigarette hole in their veils. Like today, people haven’t always viewed regulations as something they have to do for their own good.
Source: Profimedia
And, like today, there are aggressive lawyers who have found the duty to wear the veil absolutely unacceptable.
Compared to the situation 100 years ago, today it is not a problem even for an ordinary person to cross half the globe in a few hours.
A century ago, however, due to the war, large troops moved around the world, albeit at a slower pace than today. The military camps were overcrowded and, according to the data, more American soldiers died from the flu than from an attack with enemy weapons.
The flu also brings down the young
“Unlike COVID-19, the Spanish flu killed old and young. Young people between the ages of 18 and 40. Died largely in the year of their life, which was not typical of previous flu pandemics or those that followed. “ says Howard Markel of the University of Michigan.
The Spanish flu had such a huge impact on the employability of the population back then.
Source: Profimedia
At that time, there were 1.8 billion people in the world, compared to nearly 8 billion today. The significant decline in youth had its global effects and work from home was almost non-existent.
Isolation and Advances in Medicine
In quarantine, people might have been more isolated a hundred years ago than they are today. Today we have meaningful media, we can even see our friends in conversation, even if each of us is sitting at home.
On the other hand, in the past, multi-family houses were common and families were close to each other. Away from many elderly people they remained in retirement homes.
If we compare COVID-19 with the flu from 100 years ago, we need to take into account the medical advances that took place during this period.
Source: Profimedia
These have a paradoxically double effect: on the one hand, we live longer as a population and therefore we are more susceptible to the severe course of the disease. On the other hand, thanks to modern diagnostic and therapeutic methods, we have greater possibilities and a more difficult disease course to manage. We know what a virus looks like and how it behaves.
A hundred years ago, patients didn’t have as many options as they have today.
Why should we know our history? Therefore, to learn from it, so does the old familiar proverb: wise men learn from the mistakes of others … See what humanity has already done and with what consequences.
The worst pandemics of humanity: the Spanish flu has also affected health, the plague …
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