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