World War I: Influenza Epidemic It is estimated that between 25 and 40 million people died from the influenza outbreak that began in 1918, took about 7 days to sweep across America, and three months to sweep around the world. World War 1, which had just ended, took 9 million lives; this epidemic would quadruple that.Despite the name "Spanish", it probably began in America, oflittle relevance, since it spread faster than any disease in history,before or since, and killed more people in less time than all of thegreat plagues of history, doing so in the presence of relatively"modern" medical science. It all started when a soldier felt sick and reported his symptoms to a general. Soon after, the disease took a whole new form, spreading throughout the world. Some areas were harder hit than others: inAlaska, 60% of the Eskimo population was wiped out. Islands in the SouthPacific where respiratory illness is uncommon and non-lethal lost 20% oftheir populations, primarily adults. Apparently this was a flu strain which had undergone a mutation to particular savageness. Flu viruses mutate constantly in what is known as"antigenic drift", usually in such minimal ways that last year's flu orvaccine offers some protection against this year's. But about everydecade or two, such drift may be major, with a significant protein coatchange so dramatic as to be regarded by the human body as an entirelynew virus. Then it sweeps through the human population with a vengeance.When an epidemic like the Spanish Flu of 1918 begins, novaccine is helpful; such an epidemic spreads around the world fasterthan any research laboratory could isolate, prepare, and then distributethe appropriate vaccine.Which means we can fully expect another world-wide viral epidemicwith high mortality. We think we are in charge, but we cannot defeat. Mother Nature; every once in a while we have to re-learn that lesson....
