BIRD FLU PANDEMIC INFLUENZA 1

After writing a book about the 1918 Influenza Pandemic that killed 40 million people, I decided to research the coming bird flu pandemic after learning that recent DNA testing has revealed that the 1918 incident was also a strain of avian flu. The publishers I spoke with were not interested in publishing this however, because I'm not a doctor, scientist, or bird flu expert. And yet, although I was not on the Titanic, no doubt it would be completely acceptable for me to write about the doomed ship - go figure.

Nonetheless, here it is, in part, for anyone who may be interested in learning more about what may be coming our way soon. You may want to 'bookmark' it for future use should the bird flu rear its ugly head in America. I'll post more of the two hundred pages if there is any interest in reading it.

PART 1

INFLUENZA PANDEMIC

“Few took notice when the first of many stalwart men fell ill that spring of 1918. In scope, they were not unlike the first snowflakes to fall before a major blizzard. Seemingly insignificant and harmless, they offered no portent of the storm that would follow some weeks later. Yet when that storm arrived, the entire world took notice, and it trembled, for the Grim Reaper had come to the earth, fully prepared to change the world in a season. And neither medicines or schemes, nor the prayers of righteous men and fearful women could stave off his appointment with 40 million souls.” (Devon McCall, “PANDEMIC FLU REPORT” 1944)


INFLUENZA
At the time of this writing there are media reports coming out daily from all around the world about Avian Influenza, Bird Flu, H5N1, or the approaching Flu Pandemic. Unfamiliar words and terminology that not long ago carried little interest to the average person now cause many to stop whatever they’re doing to catch up on the latest news about it. As the coming months pass by, the subject will undoubtedly come up more often around the water cooler, in bars, restaurants, schools and churches, and even at the dinner table when children begin asking their parents about it. But is it real and something to be concerned about? Or could it be merely a ruse by the medical community to sell more pills and flu shots? Let’s examine the evidence.

When we think about influenza, we usually do so without giving much thought to its impact or its place in history. It’s looked upon as merely a disruption to our daily lives and more of an inconvenience than anything else, especially since it’s relatively short-lived and many of us avoid getting it altogether. If we learn that someone has ‘come down’ with the flu, seldom do we become any more concerned than if they had ‘caught’ a cold, and in fact we often put it in the same class as the common cold. We simply try to avoid being around them and fully expect them to 'get well soon.' But could it be that we’ve misjudged this seemingly minor ailment? Could it be that there’s much more to it than we’ve always believed? Yes there is, and much more indeed.

We call it influenza because it originates from the Italian word ‘Influenzae,’ for ‘influence.’ A name so given because it was once thought that the disease was ‘influenced’ by the stars (this may have been around the same time they were perfecting the medical practice of ‘blood-letting’). As time went by and the medical profession evolved, doctors and scientists concluded that the ailment was brought about not by the stars at all, but rather by a bacterium known as Hemophilus Influenzae. But they were wrong again. What they didn’t realize at the time was that a virus is so small that they couldn’t see it with even their most powerful looking glasses or microscopes. It wasn’t until the early 1930’s with the invention of the electron microscope that scientists discovered that Influenza was actually caused by a virus rather than the larger sized bacteria.

The influenza season usually arrives during the winter months and can run into March, but then after it has run its full course it usually goes away of its own accord. The only thing we can be sure of where influenza is concerned is that it will return again next year - if not sooner. The flu virus mutates and mingles with viruses from previous years and it can usually spread from human to human quite efficiently.

During the typical ‘cold and flu’ seasons we flock to the drug stores and super markets where we hunt for some form of relief. We’ll pace up and down the neatly stocked shelves containing an assortment of potential remedies in boxes of all sizes and colors, examining the large print on the box fronts hoping to match the claim of what it cures to the symptoms we have. Then once we have a possible match, we turn the box over and look at the fine print on the back and then purchase the product hoping we’ve made the right choice. If we’re lucky, whatever we purchased will help to alleviate our discomfort, and if we’re not, our ailment will run its full course and go away and we’ll merely be out several dollars.

The Flu verses the Common Cold

Despite all of the information available to us, and often many years of personal experience with these two ailments, the average person still finds it hard to differentiate between the cold and the flu, and subsequently we usually treat them alike. So what is influenza, the flu, and how does it differ from the common cold? First let’s examine the cold.

The viruses responsible for a person catching a cold seem to grow best at 91* Fahrenheit and coincidentally, that’s the temperature inside of the human nose. When a person ‘catches’ a cold, it’s usually because they were within close proximity to someone already suffering from it and have somehow inhaled the virus. They can also catch it when an infected person sneezes, or after an infected person has spread the virus from their hands onto a surface that the uninfected person touched. The person who touched or inhaled the virus may begin to notice symptoms of a scratchy throat or runny nose within one to five days from the time they themselves caught the cold.

Caused by any one of more than 200 viruses, the most common one that people encounter is known as the Rhinovirus (nose virus), of which there are more than 100 varieties. It’s because there are so many different cold viruses that it’s impractical to try and make a vaccine for the cold. Which one of the 200 vaccines would you take if you found a pharmacy who had so many or even a pharmaceutical company willing to produce them all?

Cold viruses cause an infection that affects the upper respiratory system, typically confined to the nose and throat, causing sneezing, stuffiness, and runny noses. There’s seldom a fever associated with a cold, except in toddlers and infants who may experience a temperature rise in the 100* to 102* degree’s Fahrenheit range as their body temperature adjusts itself to fight the infection with heat. Other symptoms that can occur from cold viruses are burning eyes, post nasal drip, coughing, head and muscle aches, and even a loss of appetite.

The cold season typically arrives with the late fall to early winter months or during rainy seasons, and once caught it usually runs its full course in about a week with some minor symptoms remaining for another. There is no cure for the common cold. Note: if a cold lasts beyond a week to ten days, you may wish to consult a doctor as you may have developed acute bacterial sinusitis which usually requires prescription antibiotics to keep it from spreading into other areas of the body. Influenza, or the Flu, is one of the most infectious diseases in the world and is easily transmissible and highly contagious.

It’s typically contracted through some sort of contact, either directly or indirectly. Like the cold it’s also caused by a viral infection and attacks the upper respiratory system but unlike the common cold it also attacks the lungs and bronchial areas as well. Although it’s spread similarly to the cold, influenza is easier to catch and its symptoms are more severe and last longer. Flu symptoms normally begin within one to seven days after contamination by the virus, and the victim usually begins to exhibit signs of a fever ranging from 102* to 105* degree’s Fahrenheit along with aches throughout much of their body.

Other symptoms may include dizzy spells, earaches, and vomiting, and the person will usually become very lethargic, often complaining of total exhaustion. The fever usually fades within one to three days and then the respiratory system will begin to show signs of distress in the throat with some bronchial agitation, and possibly even an ear infection. The infected person will usually have a dry hacking cough and complain of a sore throat and headaches. Expect to see some discharge from the nose and some sneezing, and unlike the common cold, the feeling of exhaustion may linger for weeks after the flu has gone.

Besides direct fluid transfer, the virus can escape from the confines of the infected host from sneezing, coughing, talking, or even with every breath. Whenever a person sneezes or coughs, they expel visible and invisible (microscopic), droplets of fluid from their mouths into the air and onto surfaces or even other people. These are contagious droplets, atomized and propelled when you cough or sneeze much like a can of hairspray, with some of the mixture being so tiny that it moves freely about in the air. The average sneeze for example can propel more than 100,000 virus particles into the air. Come into contact with them and you run the risk of spreading the virus to your own body.

If an infected person has good manners they will instinctively cover their mouth with their hands when they cough or sneeze, but if they don’t wash their hands well, everything they touch can become a hot zone of infectious activity. When you turn on that light switch that an infected person switched on or off, use the phone they were on, the ATM, open a door, borrow a pen, or get change back from Mister Happy Burger, you run the risk of contracting the virus yourself. The virus can be spread to surfaces too numerous to mention and can survive for up to 48 hours under normal conditions as it waits to be carried off by new hosts.

Another difference between the common cold and influenza is that influenza can be lethal whereas the cold is generally not. Influenza kills approximately 36,000 people in America every year, and more than half a million people worldwide, often due to secondary causes such as pneumonia or blood poisoning. Of those 36,000 who die annually from the flu, approximately 90 percent of them are over the age of 65. And lastly, unlike the common cold, influenza is highly preventable thanks to vaccines. That in itself is reason enough to get a ‘flu shot’ when they become available each year, especially the elderly, the very young, and those whose immune systems are not at their optimum.

Flu vaccines typically prevent the flu in 70 to 90 percent of those under the age of 65 who are otherwise healthy. For the elderly people who get vaccinated, the effectiveness can range from 30 to 70 percent. This number may increase in the future thanks to a chemical that European vaccine maker ‘Chiron’ has been adding to their flu vaccines for the elderly overseas. The Chemical, known formally as MF59, seems to increase the immune response in the elderly when added to the influenza vaccine. The Flu season usually arrives during the winter months and due to influenza’s short incubation period, it can easily sweep through schools, neighborhoods, and even sections of a city in a very short period of time as an epidemic.

Pandemic flu strains however do not follow many of the normal influenza protocols and can appear at any time of the year in any region of the globe. Symptoms typically appear within one to two days and can include muscle aches, fatigue, chills, fever, and a feeling of lethargy. Some men infected during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic reported severe pains in their backs, legs, ankles, and even behind their eyes while others experienced throats that were raw, and many had traces of blood in their urine.

The worst cases were easily noticeable because the victim would begin to turn a shade of grayish-blue, referred to as cyanotic, as the virus began attacking their lungs, and many times the victims would fall into a coma. The strange skin color was due to a lack of oxygen in the blood cells as the lungs became engorged with blood, inhibiting the transfer of oxygen through the lungs. The lungs of many in 1918 were sometimes described during the victims autopsy as being almost a ‘solid mass.’ The blood would continue to build up in the lungs, foaming and congealing, until finally it seeped from the eyes and mouths and even the ears as the person essentially drowned in their own blood. Often when a patient reached the stage of cyanosis, they were treated as being terminal – or certain to die.

Influenza virus strains hearty enough to reach pandemic status can be so powerful that symptoms can appear within mere hours after initial exposure. In 1918, individuals who got up in the morning feeling as healthy as a horse, before the day was out would be as dead as a dog. Some young men, healthy and in the prime of their lives who began to feel sick, displaying symptoms enough so that they went straight to the hospital to be examined, died while they were still standing in line at the hospital.

Meanwhile others around them might appear completely unaffected by it and continue going about their daily routine when all the while they would be unknowingly carrying it inside them and spreading it to new environments and victims. Influenza is a very mobile virus in the sense that it easily invades a host and uses them as a vehicle to help it spread. By going from host to host it also has the time and opportunity to mutate into something more than what it originally began as and that’s why you’ll hear of a pandemic flu often coming in time cycles, or ‘waves.’

Continued on Part 2

BIRD FLU PANDEMIC INFLUENZA 2

PART 2

PANDEMICS OF HISTORY

While the word ‘Epidemic’ is probably familiar to most everyone, the word ‘Pandemic’ most likely is not. It’s one of those words that rarely comes up in normal conversation. But all that is about to change. An “Epidemic” in short means: “spreading rapidly and extensively by infection: affecting or tending to affect an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time.” Whereas a “Pandemic” in short means: “an epidemic over a wide geographical area: existing everywhere: occurring throughout a region or even the entire world.”

Listed here are some recorded pandemics and pandemic scares where although many became sick, the death toll was negligible. The list is not complete because experts believe we encounter on average three to four pandemics each century; In 412 BC, Hippocrates, the father of medicine who gave us the Hippocratic Oath, described a disease very similar to influenza in Northern Greece that decimated the Athenian Army. In the year 855 AD, an epidemic that began in Asia spread out across Persia ‘killing many souls.’ In 1485 Hundreds of thousands in Britain became sick with flu like symptoms that some called the “Sweating Sickness.” And in 1510 a large scale outbreak of some unknown kind raged across Europe. 1580, a Pandemic swept across Asia, Europe, Africa, and America where over 80 percent of the people became infected and in some cities of Spain the ailment is said to have killed almost everyone. During 1688, 1693, and 1699, outbreaks stretched out from Europe to North America.

In 1729, 1732, 1781 (the 1781 Pandemic reached across Europe, Asia, and America), 1789 saw epidemics in Europe and America, 1830, 1836, 1847, 1889 (1889 Chinese origin - Russian Flu 1 million deaths). 1900, 1918 (1918 Spanish Flu – 20 to 40 million or more deaths). 1957 (1957 Asian Flu – 2 million deaths). 1968 (1968 Hong Kong Flu – 1 million deaths). 1976 (1976 Swine Flu – proved to be a false alarm). 1977 (1977 Russian Flu), 1997, 1999, 2003 Swine flu. 2003 Avian Flu, 2003, 2004, and the more recent one of 2005 which has not yet reached pandemic proportions, except among the bird populations, has left more than one hundred humans dead thus far from the avian flu.

So what causes a pandemic you might wonder? Unlike an influenza epidemic in which a typical flu virus confines its spread to a school, neighborhood or even across a city, a pandemic, which as mentioned above covers a wide geographical area, usually occurs when a brand new influenza ‘A’ virus emerges during a process called an ‘antigenic shift.’ This is caused by new protein combinations forming on the viruses surface, creating new ‘A’ virus sub-types. Of course if a strain doesn’t spread easily from person to person it will not become a pandemic, yet it can establish itself in human cells and circulate for years during future flu seasons. To become a pandemic the new virus will need to spread rapidly and easily from person to person. Because of our ease of traveling from here to there, it could easily become not just a localized problem but a global one.

In human beings there have been primarily two flu viruses that were easily transmitted from person to person, the H1N1 virus and the H3N2 virus. The H1 and H3 proteins recognize the human cell receptors and this makes it easy for them to enter the healthy cells. The latest concern however is centered around the H5N1 A type virus strain which has shown signs that it’s adapting to where it too might spread easily from human to human.

There are three types of Influenza.

1.) The Influenza “A” virus; This type mutates rapidly and is responsible for epidemic and pandemic outbreaks. It’s also the one that infects animals such as horses, chickens, pigs, ducks, and birds in the wild.
2.) The Influenza “B” virus; This type causes brief outbreaks in small communities and gathering places like schools or offices.
3.) The Influenza “C” virus; Although this virus type is very common, it seldom ever produces any disease symptoms.

As a guideline for countries to follow, the World Health Organization, or ‘WHO,’ has outlined the stages of a Pandemic in six phases.

* Inter-pandemic period *
Phase 1: No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans, but an influenza virus subtype that has caused human infection may be present in animals. If present in animals, the risk of human infection or disease is considered low.
Phase 2: No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. However, a circulating animal influenza virus subtype poses a substantial risk of human disease.

* Pandemic alert period *
Phase 3: Human infection with a new subtype, but no human-to-human spread, or at most, rare instances of spread to a close contact.
Phase 4: Small cluster or clusters, with limited human-to-human transmission but the spread is highly localized, suggesting that the virus has not adapted well to humans.
Phase 5: Larger cluster or clusters, but human-to-human spread is still localized suggesting that the virus is becoming increasingly better adapted to humans but may not yet be fully transmissible (substantial pandemic risk).

* Pandemic period *
Phase 6: Pandemic: increased and sustained transmission from human to human within the general population.

Although epidemics and Pandemics have occurred many times throughout recorded history, not all of them were influenza related. Bubonic Plague, Small Pox, Measles, Yellow Fever, Polio, Diphtheria, Typhoid, and Cholera, are some of the better known ailments that have killed large numbers of people. And then there are maladies that few of us have ever heard of such as Goal Fever, The Sweat, Bilious Disorder, and many other unidentified fevers. But again, to keep it short we’ll concentrate on the one the experts are claiming may soon be on the way, as well as a comparative example of the influenza pandemic of 1918 – the worst of them all.

Pandemics as we’ve seen are not something new to us. In fact it’s estimated that we encounter a pandemic of some sort 3 to 4 times on average during every century, and the experts agree that we’re overdue for one. What is new however is that the earth’s population has increased substantially, and subsequently the death toll from a serious pandemic could be unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed before in all of history. Some estimates say that the number of dead could be of biblical proportions, perhaps reaching into the hundreds of millions.

But not everybody sees this as necessarily a bad thing. In the spring of 2006 a college professor in Texas stated (in essence), that the earth would be better off if 9 out of 10 human beings died during a pandemic. His thought is that with fewer people, the Earth’s natural resources would be plentiful enough to sustain human life and wildlife habitats would even fair better if we were pared down. Several other professors applauded him for his boldness.

They are the kind of people I like to refer too as ‘educated idiots.’ By their intellect they think themselves wise, while often if you listen to them talk long enough, they will expose themselves as being fools. If they actually believed their blathering about too many humans on this planet, I would expect them to have enough conviction to pass around a ‘Jim Jones’ cocktail at their next faculty meeting. In any case, arguments about the Earth being overpopulated could become moot if and when neighborhoods, cities, states, countries, and entire continents saw their census numbers decline by millions in a matter of months.

Another issue likely to be brought to the forefront would be ‘abortion on demand.’ Countries like Spain for example that legalized abortions in the mid 1980’s, has seen the numbers of abortions in their country increase by more than 70 percent over just the past decade. And also India where the abortion issue is becoming a real concern because they’re currently facing a shortage of eligible women for their young men to marry due to an estimated 500,000 female babies aborted every year.

So just as with arguments about overpopulation, soon all of the arguments in favor of abortion may likewise fall by the wayside. In fact, in the aftermath of a major pandemic, we may even see the practice of abortion become illegal in countries that now condone it. And just as animal rights groups such as PETA are keeping quiet while hundreds of millions of birds are being slaughtered around the world, we may likewise see the day when the pro-abortion groups have to bite their collective tongues.

I’ll even go one step further. There may come a day when some countries will encourage their people to have children in an effort to rebuild their populations, their tax rolls and their military might. Imagine the balance of power suddenly shifting on borders where one side saw a substantial number of their soldiers die from influenza. Or the devastation that world economies will take should 100,000,000 or more people suddenly die. Farmers, Plumbers, Bankers, Welders, Mothers and Fathers, Ministers, Doctors and Nurses… no doubt every country will lose people from all walks of life and each of them plays an essential role in a healthy economy of any country.

No doubt there are some conspiracy theorists out there who will propose that if a deadly pandemic arrives it’s likely a biological weapon created in a laboratory somewhere that’s accidentally gotten loose. In fact this has begun. In March of 2006, Russian Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov actually blamed the United States for the spread of the Avian Influenza. “It’s strange that not a single duck has yet died in America – they are all dying in Russia and European countries. This makes one seriously wonder why.” When asked if he believed it was a deliberate attack by America, “I not only suggest this, I know very well how this can be arranged…”

Some believe that the recent disease known as SARS could have been an example of a laboratory experiment gone awry. When SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, first appeared, the scientific community feared at first that it was a pandemic influenza virus returning as it acted in much the same fashion. To illustrate the seriousness of the SARS fear, on a flight from Hong Kong to Beijing in 2003, 22 people caught SARS from another passenger aboard the plane due to the planes air re-circulation. Before it was finally brought under control through stringent quarantine measures, 7000 people became infected with SARS and more than 600 of them died.

During a recent two hour plane trip I thought of this and then recalled that most airplanes don’t have filtration systems that feature HEPA style filters, and therefore the passenger cabin air is simply re-circulated approximately every four minutes. With that in mind I was curious to see how many times somebody would sneeze or cough in my cabin since this very thing could prove deadly in a pandemic environment. I counted more than 60 coughs and nearly 20 sneezes. Now imagine that your life depended on not being around sick people. Every one of those outbursts would mean that they expelled the virus into the closed cabin to be re-circulated for everyone to breathe.

Also, each time a sick passenger adjusted their seat belt, turned the fresh air knob above them, used the lavatory or touched the seat backs as they entered or exited the plane, they might spread the virus to those surfaces. It’s safe to assume that they’ll also spend a certain amount of time in two or more airports - miles away from each other, talking to ticket takers, cashiers and restaurant workers, as well as touching a variety of surfaces before they go about their merry way. It’s a scary possibility but it’s what we may face someday soon.

THE BIRD FLU
They refer to the latest concern as the Bird Flu because that’s where it originates, within the bird species. The particular strain of the Bird Flu virus causing all the alarm is known formally as H5N1. It normally appears in waterfowl yet seldom will they display any symptoms of it or be affected by it, though when it passes on to poultry it is lethal to them.

The H5N1 virus strain was first identified in 1961 in South African wild Terns, and it spread uneventfully and naturally through wild bird populations throughout the world. But then something happened that caused concern in the medical and economic communities. After 40 years the virus suddenly shifted its focus to the domestic bird populations in Asia. One of the first red flags that went up over the ferocity of this virus was when waterfowl, which as mentioned are normally immune to dying from the H5N1 virus, began dying rapidly from this latest strain.

In Pennsylvania in 1983 through 1984, a strain of bird flu swept through chicken farms causing authorities there to kill more than 17,000,000 chickens. And in 2003 after an outbreak of the H7N7 bird flu in the Netherlands, they were forced to destroy 30,000,000 birds. Under normal circumstances the avian influenza, or ‘bird flu’ virus, usually stays within the bird species, though it can be transmitted to pigs and other animal hosts.

In fact, they believe that a relative of the 1918 strain of influenza is still carried around in pigs. At Fort Dix New Jersey in 1976, several soldiers became ill with influenza and one of them died. After they ran tests on the dead soldier, it was revealed that he died from a strain of swine type influenza A virus. Pigs make the perfect breeding ground for deadly strains of influenza because of their unique ability to host different viruses.

Many reading this may even remember that the American Medical community and even the White House feared that we were on the brink of another pandemic similar to 1918. They worried that perhaps a variant of the 1918 virus had re-emerged. The U.S. government then began a massive campaign to inoculate the entire population against what they called the “Swine Flu.” The problem was that the Swine Flu vaccine itself was starting to kill and hospitalize otherwise healthy people. Although slightly more than 200 people were diagnosed with Swine Flu at Fort Dix, reports of anyone dying from it were not to be found (aside from the soldier who initially died from it).

The so called ‘cure’ however, killed 23 people and caused an illness similar to Multiple Sclerosis known as Guillain-Barré Syndrome in more than 500 previously healthy people. This caused the government to suspend the inoculation plan with 40,000,000 of our 220,000,000 citizens having been vaccinated. This action adversely created a severe distrust in government sponsored mass inoculations and flu vaccinations that still exists with many people to this very day.

As mentioned above, the concern over a pig, or swine, variant of the virus mixing with bird influenza is very real because pigs can also carry human influenza viruses. If they have the bird flu virus inside them, and a human flu virus, the two viruses could blend or merge, creating a new more lethal strain of flu virus within the pig as the viruses mutate and adapt. The new more virulent strain could then be passed on to humans. Such a thing could prove catastrophic to the human race should the new strain prove too easily pass from human to human. Other animals also carry influenza viruses such as dogs, cats, horses, and mice to name a few.

In September 2005 the state of Florida warned resident dog owners of a contagious strain of canine influenza sweeping across the state that was affecting dogs in kennels, clinics, and boarding facilities. No need to worry though, apparently we can’t catch the canine virus. And in February of 2006, fear gripped the country of Germany when it was discovered that a cat died from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu – the very same strain they fear could leap to humans. An order was quickly issued, requiring that all cats be kept indoors and all dogs would have to be on leashes within certain areas of five states.

Around the same time scientists with the World Health Organization called for studies on infections in cats, or more specifically, on how cats shed the virus in their environment. This was after it was discovered that three cats at an animal sanctuary in the city of Graz in Austria tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus yet showed no symptoms of the disease. They believe the animals caught the disease from some infected birds that the shelter had taken in.

Incidents of Felines coming down with a bird flu is not new to scientists. As recently as 2004 domesticated cats and wild cats in Asia, including more than a dozen tigers, died from the bird flu. While it’s unclear whether or not there could be a species leap from cats to humans, I think the concern is rightly there. Besides the fact that cat lovers cuddle closely with their pets, there are a host of other animals who also feed on birds, and these animals will not be particular about whether the bird is sick or not. Care must be given if you have any pets that spend any amount of time in the outdoors. They could come into contact with a diseased bird (or even their fecal matter), and bring the virus into your home where you or family members may be at risk.

Continued on Part 3

BIRD FLU PANDEMIC INFLUENZA 3

Part 3

THE 1918 Flu Pandemic

In 1889 a strain of influenza possibly originating in China, spread out across Europe through the Russian provinces, and whether right or wrong, the pandemic was given the title of the Russian Flu. It made its way from Russia across Asia and to Japan, and then finally to the United States and Latin America by 1890. It killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide before it mysteriously disappeared on its own. While the death toll was high, it was nothing compared to what would follow less than thirty years later.

It was in the early twentieth century that we experienced the most notable of all pandemics in recorded history, the one that all pandemics will forever be judged by; the influenza pandemic of 1918. Some people believe that the 1918 pandemic was actually a variant strain of the virus that appeared in 1889. In less than two years it is estimated that almost 1,000,000,000 (1 billion), people from around the earth became sick with influenza, with an estimated 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 (20-40 million), people dying from it.

I purposely left the zeroes of these numbers in place to better serve as a visual indicator of the loss in human lives. Each zero represents a once living, breathing, wage earning, taxpaying, human being, very much like you or I. The numbers are quite staggering, but in fact it may have been even worse than previously imagined. There are some experts who now speculate that the actual number of dead could be closer to 100,000,000 (One Hundred Million). This theory probably factors in countries where census records and methods of communication were limited during that era.

The United States was lucky given the size of our population, in that we lost just under 700,000 of our citizens by the time the flu virus had run its course. Other countries weren’t nearly as fortunate as we were. In the month of May alone in 1918, Spain reportedly lost almost a quarter of a million people while 8 million of them were infected.

In the Alaskan Territories to the north of us, 60 percent of the entire Eskimo population died from influenza. Germany had 400,000 casualties in their civilian population while Great Britain is said to have had 228,000 deaths during the summer months alone, and by July 1918 Japan had lost 257,000. Canada lost 43,000, New Zealand 8,600, and entire villages in Africa were said to be completely wiped out of existence. But the worst hit of all the afflicted countries was poor India who it is said lost as many as 17,000,000 of her people.

When America faced this deadly menace, October 1918 turned out to be the worst month of all for us. On October 1st, Camp Hancock in Augusta, Georgia had over 700 men report to the infirmary with influenza symptoms. That was up from only two men the day before. By the 5th day there were 3,000 cases at the camp and 52 of the men were now dead. Camp Gordon over in Atlanta, Georgia reported that they had ten soldiers dead but that they had 138 new cases on the 2nd day of October. It only got worse from there.

Before the deadly virus went away later that year, the United States Military lost about 43,000 of its finest men and women to it. That was almost as many as they lost in all of the battles fought by us during World War One. But the military bases were not alone in dealing with this trauma as cities throughout America encountered the purple death. On the 7th of October the city of Atlanta, in an effort to try and minimize or slow down the spread of the virus, took drastic measures to try and save its citizens. They declared that all public meeting places were to be closed for a period of about two months, which included public places like schools, parks, libraries, churches, theaters, and movie houses. Military personnel were forbidden from entering the city of Atlanta without a special request pass.

As the virus swept across the nation, Atlanta’s precautionary measures seemed to be working with only 105 new cases reported by the 10th day of October. And by the 13th day it was decided that the ban on public gatherings would be cancelled in another week, after being in effect for only about two weeks. It was a risky decision to end the ban early but it paid off and the total loss of life for the city of Atlanta was relatively low for a city of its size with only 750 deaths reported. Other large cities were not so lucky.

In September the city of Philadelphia reported that they began noticing a rise of patients in their hospitals stricken by the ‘Spanish Lady’ as some began calling it, lending an almost elegant title to a merciless killer. By the second week of October the number of sick had swelled to where they could hardly find enough beds to accommodate all of them. Within three weeks after that the problems changed and they were now searching in desperation for places to store all of the bodies as the morgues and undertakers were overwhelmed. Many of the dead were then taken to cold storage facilities.

Philly was a city in turmoil, gripped by fear as the shadow of death swept over them, touching rich and poor, black and white, and young and old alike, showing favor to no one. She had grown to a city of about 300,000 residents because of so much prosperity due to the war, but when the numbers of dead began to rapidly increase, the city’s cemeteries were quickly overwhelmed. There weren’t enough grave diggers to dig graves or enough coffins made to hold so many dead people. Some relatives, out of shear necessity and respect for the dead, were forced to dig graves for their loved ones by themselves. But some bodies were not given as much consideration, for whatever reason, and were left to rot in garages and barns.

During the horrific month of October 1918 in Philadelphia the death toll mounted day by day. On October 4th it was recorded that on that particular day alone 139 people died, but that was only the beginning. With each successive day the numbers of dead climbed higher causing a panic as people began stripping pharmacy shelves bare of any medicine that could possibly prevent catching the illness or even just alleviate the symptoms of someone already afflicted.

Home remedies were tried in desperation and the ‘Snake Oil” salesmen moved in like vultures offering ineffective elixirs and concoctions that did little more than offer hope to frightened citizens. If a person were to cough out on the street, most folks would cross to the other side just to avoid them, such was the fear of death. On board the city’s trolley system if someone were to cough, the other passengers had been known to force the suspected sick person off of the trolley rather than risk catching influenza and spreading it to their loved ones.

People began wearing gauze masks over their mouths with typically four layers of gauze. Four layers of gauze was believed to be the magic number of layers that would protect the wearer from catching influenza. But in fact it did little to stop it as the virus, being so small, could easily pass right through it. If a sick person wore the gauze mask however, it did help contain some of the bodily fluids that would’ve otherwise gone airborne during a coughing spell.

Red Cross volunteers worked feverishly to sew up enough masks for everyone, just as the same group was also working to sew up burial shrouds for the growing number of the dead and dying. Theaters and Vaudeville shows were ordered closed by the state of Pennsylvania and even the saloons were shut down in an effort to contain the spread of influenza, but it was simply not enough. “Too little too late.”

In Philadelphia they wisely decided to close the schools and churches across the entire city in an attempt to keep large groups of people apart in the hopes it might halt the spread of the disease. But sadly with the churches closed, people in mourning for their loved ones or seeking comfort and counseling couldn’t do so, and this was at a time when they probably needed it the most.

Most businesses were affected as many people remained inside their own homes for fear of coming into contact with someone who was infected. Those businesses that remained open suffered from the loss of revenue that those frightened consumers might have spent. Businesses suffered in another way too when their employees failed to report to work because they were either too sick to work, stayed at home to care for their sick family members, or were dead. The local telephone company for example, was short by over 25 percent of its work force as workers began calling in sick, with some of them never returning.

On October 6th in Philadelphia there were 800 additional cases and 171 people died that day. October 8th brought almost 1,500 new cases and 250 deaths, and on the 10th, 5,500 new cases reported and 361 deaths. By the 11th day of October there were 4,000 new cases and 517 deaths, while the 14th brought 4,300 newly afflicted and 557 newly dead, and by the 16th there were 2,300 new cases and 650 dead. By the 17th day of October it looked like the tide was finally turning as there were only about 1,700 new cases reported. But even still, 711 people died that day. The worst of the disease was over and it appeared that it was slowing, but those who were ill were still losing ground. Before this terror left the city of Philadelphia, it claimed more than 12,000 of its residents, and all in a matter of about a month.

Out on the West coast, the city of San Francisco watched as the purple death swept through eastern and mid-western states in what must have seemed like the other side of the world to them. With so much distance between them, it almost appeared as if they were not going to have to worry about it, and the San Francisco Board of Health Chief even predicted that it wouldn’t reach them. But he was wrong. It was near the end of September when a man from Chicago moved to San Francisco, bringing with him it is believed, the deadly influenza that was terrorizing the entire world.

Within a span of two weeks there were more than 4000 new cases of the flu. Churches, Schools, and governmental buildings were ordered closed to avoid the assemblage of people, as were other public gathering places. A law was then quickly enacted making it mandatory for anyone out in public to wear a gauze mask, or face going to jail. This led to a little ditty being chanted within the community; “Obey the laws and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.” The mayor of San Francisco asserted to his citizens, with the endorsement of the Red Cross and Health Community, that the gauze mask was ‘99 percent effective against influenza’ and that wearing one could save your life.

Over a six week period of this ‘East Coast’ style of isolation, the city of San Francisco emerged with only a little more than 2,100 people succumbing to the deadly flu virus. This number was out of nearly 24,000 cases, which equates too roughly a 9% fatality rate. To the delight of everyone, about a week before Thanksgiving, sirens began sounding throughout the city to let the people know that things could finally return to normal. The threat was over and the city had faired much better than many of their counterparts to the east. Schools, Churches, Theaters, and other gathering places reopened and it was now safe and legal for citizens to remove their masks.

But their celebration was short lived. A mere two weeks later there were new cases of influenza being reported, with as many as 5,000 new cases in December alone. Before the plague left them for the final time, the city of San Francisco had recorded an additional 1,400 deaths bringing the total to more than 3,500 fatalities from influenza. Still, it was not as bad as it could have been had they not taken the precautions that they did.

There are several theories as to where this dreaded pandemic began or originated from, but in fact nobody could ever know for sure with any certainty. Nonetheless, here are some of the more popular thoughts and theories about it. While they leave plenty of room for speculation and unanswered questions, the reality is that it could’ve been something altogether different from even these possibilities.

Some researchers believe that the 1918 pandemic began in Fort Riley, Kansas in the spring of that year, though its place of origin may have been China. China has always been - and remains a hot spot for new strains of influenza viruses, with one particular province being the focal point for many new flu strains. We now know that the 1918 virus began its life in birds and could’ve possibly spread to Pigs, and from there it could’ve made the jump to humans. Although it usually begins with birds, either one of these sources could’ve spread it to humans who came into close contact with them in 1918. Typically this is done through some type of direct bodily fluid contact.

Two days before men began reporting in sick to the infirmary, some soldiers on the base had been burning thousands of pounds of horse manure. Since horses can carry the influenza virus, some have wondered could it have come from them? Could it be that particulate matter from the shoveled manure was blowing in the air days earlier during unusually active dust storms? That somehow this was the culprit had infected more than 1,100 soldiers, and killed 46 of them? This theory isn’t very likely though some have offered it as the possible origin.

The first person to complain of illness at the Fort Riley base hospital in March of 1918, was an Army Private named Albert Gitchell who worked in the Mess Hall (a military dining room). Perhaps the young man came into contact with some tainted pig meat, poultry, eggs, or fowl while performing his duties in the Mess Hall? While that sounds like a reasonable possibility, let’s not be too quick to saddle such a burden on one mans shoulders. It could just be a mere coincidence that he worked in the kitchen where he may have come into contact with any number of infected sources.

We’re all different and people display flu symptoms at different rates depending upon the strength of their immune system, their overall physical condition, and a number of other factors. It could’ve just as easily begun with anyone of the soldiers who became ill in those first days, and perhaps maybe one of them infected Albert as they proceeded through his chow line. Also, seeing as how Private Gitchell would’ve been the most obvious source of origin at Fort Riley, no doubt that possibility was investigated thoroughly during those days when the witnesses and evidence were still fresh and available.

Another time and place than Kansas perhaps? Signs and symptoms as well as the characteristics of this same strain of influenza are believed too have been first recorded during the early months of 1918 in San Sebastian, Spain. People afflicted by this flu were dying at a rate of 20 times the norm. The physicians noted in detail that many of the victims changed physically as their skin turned to a bluish color (cyanosis), and that some even had a blue froth coming from their noses and mouths (heliotrope cyanosis), which ended in them drowning in their own bodily fluids. Another notable similarity that’s too coincidental to ignore when concluding that this was likely of the same virus strain, was that they mentioned the victims were unlike flu victims of the past in that they were mostly in the 20 to 50 year old age group.

Yet, although this pandemic was even called ‘The Spanish Flu’ or ‘Spanish Lady’ by individuals and news outlets alike, it’s very likely that the title was based more on circumstantial evidence than fact. During the war against the Germans, Spain chose not only to stay out of the fight, but they also limited their reporting of the war. Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, reporting about the war effort ruled the media spotlight while at the same time they realized that reporting on the influenza situation might undermine the war effort. The media of that era obviously took care about how their words might affect the morale of our soldiers, and also how they might embolden our enemies.

If soldiers were concerned about their wives, children, girlfriends, or parents back home, they could become disheartened and lose the ability to fight effectively. Their minds had to stay sharp and focused on the task at hand and so news of the troubles back home remained limited. Meanwhile in Spain, the influenza death toll continued to mount, even infecting their King, and they reported extensively about it so when people elsewhere in the world would talk about the flu problem, they wrongfully assumed that it was Spain’s problem. When it was discovered that it was spreading to all reaches of the globe, many wrongly assumed that since Spain was the first mention they’d ever heard of it, that it somehow had originated there.

Others speculated, more so at the beginning of the pandemic than afterwards, that the Germans had somehow unleashed the plague upon their enemies. This idea was even proposed by the Lt. Colonel in charge of the Health and Sanitation Section of the Emergency Fleet in Boston. We were at war with a ruthless enemy and it was common knowledge that the German military was working on germ and biological warfare. So it would have been an easy theory to accept… except for one thing, it was affecting and killing the German soldiers as much or more so than it was the Allied Forces. Some even say that it was a contributing factor to the wars end and the Germans were crushed by this enemy they couldn’t even see. Needless to say this idea never gained much popularity. Note: Anton Dilger, the main proponent of Germany’s biological warfare program died from the Spanish Flu in Spain in October 1918.

And lastly, it was in the winter of 1916, more than a year before the Fort Riley incident, that we look at our last theory. It was near the Western Front at a British military training encampment in Etaples, France where Army field doctors first encountered a disease with all the characteristics and traits of the pandemic that rocked the world.

The camp had a troop strength of about 100,000 men, and tens of thousands more both sick and healthy, routinely coming and going from the camp into French cities, various battle locations, to hospitals and to other allied camps. Influenza could come and go at any time and it often did and it would sweep through the men there, touching anyone vulnerable to it. It was a great opportunity for viruses to mix and mingle with other stains. The ailment was described by medical personnel as ‘purulent bronchitis,’ and was unlike typical bronchitis or pneumonia, often ending with the patient turning cyanotic, then soon followed by their deaths.

What makes this place in France the most likely source of origin for the 1918 influenza strain was the size of the camp. With one tenth of a million people there at any given time, it was larger than many cities, only you didn’t have merchants spread around as in a city, everything was run by the military. To routinely feed a group of that size the camp built large pigpens as well as holding areas for large quantities of Geese, Ducks, and Chickens that they would buy from the French markets. Because of the close proximity of humans to these animals, viruses from birds, pigs, and humans all had plenty of time and opportunity to mingle together to form altogether new virus strains.

As men came and went into and out of the camp, many passing through on their way home to allied countries, they could’ve pick it up in a number of ways. Then, weaker versions of the strains could be carried around inside of their host, looking for an opportunity to jump species or mix with other virus strains introduced to the carrier at a later date. Given all of these factors, theories and proposals, anything is possible, but in the end, no one could know for sure where it actually began.

In America, as stated above, the pandemic first reared its ugly head in the spring of 1918 in Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas with Private Albert Gitchell being the first recorded case. Despite the possibilities of its origin, I can’t help but wonder how much grief Mr. Gitchell or his family wrongly faced once his name was made public as being the first case.

That spring, although more than 1,200 men became ill from it, less than fifty of them died. The doctors at the time thought that the story ended there, but in fact that was only the first of three waves. It’s normal for a pandemic to appear in as many as three waves (this is an important thing to remember should we encounter one in the future so that you don’t let your guard down and discard flu supplies you may have gathered).

The First Wave of the 1918 incident began at Fort Riley Kansas in the spring and ended in early summer, with almost a 50% infection rate, yet relatively few people died percentage wise from that strain of the virus. The Second Wave began at Fort Devens Massachusetts in early September 1918, and while it had a high infection rate like the 1st wave, unlike the 1st it carried with it a high mortality rate.

As soldiers prepared for war and were moved around among various military bases in the United States, many of them were no doubt carrying some of that early virus strain with them. Some of those same soldiers likely took it aboard ships crossing the Atlantic where it was inadvertently shared with soldiers on board, and then with the Allied Expeditionary Forces when they arrived in Europe. Likewise, it could’ve reached the German troops through either captures, interrogations, or even surrenders.

The virus spread easily in close quarters like tents, foxholes, and trenches, even though it hadn’t yet mutated into the killer it was soon to become. The Expeditionary armies carried it inside of their bodies to other encampments and battles throughout Europe, with every cough being a potential carrier of the virus that would destroy millions. And then to compound the problem further, they took it home with them to their native countries and their families.

The deadly outbreak would start earlier for most of them than it did for America. It swept through the men fighting in the war, then through the field and stationary hospitals through the wounded, and those who started showing signs of what medics and doctors thought at first was ‘only the flu.’ It then migrated through carriers into the civilian populations throughout Europe, killing hundreds of thousands without mercy.

The second wave was raging across the world and in America it started at Camp Devens near Boston, Massachusetts in September 1918 as soldiers returning home from the war carried it back across the Atlantic with them from Europe. Despite the fact that this problem had been seen earlier in the year, it did little good as a warning because no one could’ve prepared us for what was about to happen. There was no way for us to know that it would return and be even stronger than before. The rest of the country seemed to not even notice it until it started killing people by the hundreds, and then by the thousands. It did so quickly and quite efficiently, passing easily from person to person through the air.

continued on part 4