Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu Pandemic (less misleadingly called the 1918 flu pandemic) was a pandemic in 1918 and 1919 caused by an unusually severe and deadly strain of the subtype H1N1 of the species Influenza A virus (which apparently killed via cytokine storm, explaining the severe nature and unusual age distribution). In the 12 months of the pandemic, 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed. Despite not having originated in Spain, the Allies of World War I came to call it the "Spanish Flu". This was mainly because the pandemic received greater press attention in Spain than in the rest of the world, as Spain was not involved in the war and there was no wartime censorship in Spain. The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5 – 5% of the human population, with 20% of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent. Influenza may have killed as many as 25 million in its first 25 weeks; in contrast, AIDS killed 25 million in its first 25 years. Influenza spread across the world, killing more than 25 million in six months; some estimates put the total killed at over twice that number, possibly even 100 million. In the U.S., about 28% of the population suffered, and 500,000 to 675,000 died. In Britain 200,000 died; in France more than 400,000. Entire villages perished in Alaska and southern Africa. In Australia an estimated 10,000 people died and in the Fiji Islands, 14% of the population died during only two weeks, and in Western Samoa 22%. An estimated 17 million died in India, about 5% of India's population at the time. In the Indian Army, almost 22% of troops who caught the disease died of it. While World War I did not cause the flu, the close quarters and mass movement of troops quickened its spread. It has been speculated that the soldiers' immune systems were weakened by the stresses of combat and chemical attacks, increasing their susceptibility to the disease

Very interesting indeed Jocktamson. Glaschu

thankyou glaschu, btw,have you received that parcel yet??

Hey Jock, Good timing on that post, I have just finished watching a documentry involving the 1920s outbreak of encephalitis lethargica and the possible relationship (if any) between the Spanish Flu. They were saying that it may have been as a direct, delayed pathological result of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. Puts a new light on researching causes of death around that time in our genealogy.

Sorry i should have stated what Encephalitis Lethargica is.... Encephalitis Lethargica, also known as sleeping sickness (though different from the sleeping sickness transmitted by the tsetse fly), is a devastating illness that swept the world in the 1920s and then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Encephalitis Lethargica attacks the brain, leaving some victims like living statues, speechless and motionless. It is as if the victims go to sleep and do not wake up. Between 1917 and 1928, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread throughout the world, but no recurrence of the epidemic has since been reported, though isolated cases continue to occur. During the outbreak, over 5 million died, and some were left frozen inside their useless bodies, in institutions. extracted from the wikipedia

NICE ONE SOSH! certainly makes you wonder about alot of the death certs around that time.....

My grandfather died in the 1918 flu epidemic at the age of 58, leaving a family of 10. My aunt said she never forgave herself for pestering him for a halfpenny the day before he died, so she could buy a mutton pie. The pipe band was marching past the house just after he died on a victory parade, but the custom then was to lay straw down near the home of the deceased to muffle the sound of the marching feet.

Meg Great post! Brings the past to life.

wonderful post meg! thank you

Just been reading a bit about the "Spanish" flu here http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinfluenzia.htm I just received copies of death certs for my gt-grandmother and one of her daughters this morning; they died within two days of each other in November 1918, the mother of capillary bronchitis and the daugher of influenza and broncho-pneumonia. This was within a week of the end of the war. The informant, son, had been invalided out of the war. At a time which I guess should have been happy, the ending of hostilities, he was having to bury his mother and sister. Very sad; I shed a little tear, silly since I didn't even know them, but felt very moved all the same.

Oh what a shame Janglaschu.........sad story. One positive out of it though is that your great grandmother died knowing that her son had made it home from the war. My grandmas brother, John Sangster was a sergeant in the war and on his return home at the end of the war he got married. He then died weeks later, of the 'flu'.

How sad. It's incredible that the effects of that outbreak are not nearly so much discussed as the war casualties, considering how many died. It was a real tragedy, and to come so soon after the war, must have been the last straw for many, emotionally.