Science of a Pandemic

In two years between 1918 and 1919, A pandemic of influenza swept mercilessly over the planet, killing millions which stood in its path. Miraculously, the exact origin of the pandemic is unclear. What is exceedingly clear, however, is that often the actions of man aided in the spread of the virus, whether due to inadvertent endangerment, close quarters, religious principles, or failure to recognize the true threat that influenza posed.

People had little knowledge of germs and bacteria, and that there are trillions of these microscopic invaders everywhere you go. Therefore many people took little effort in keeping good hygiene and awareness of transmissible distances between people. The close contact of people made the spread of the virus effortless. People soon began

In 1918, at the end of World War I, the Spanish flu struck the US. Research says that the estimated amount of deaths are somewhere between 20-40 million people worldwide. The Spanish flu was one of the most devastating pandemics in modern history. The Spanish flu was something the medical world had never seen and affected the people living in California greatly.

The book The Great Influenza by John Barry takes us back to arguably one of the greatest medical disasters in human history, the book focuses on the influenza pandemic which took place in the year 1918. The world was at war in the First World War and with everyone preoccupied with happenings in Europe and winning the war, the influenza pandemic struck when the human race was least ready and most distracted by happenings all over the world. In total the influenza pandemic killed over a hundred million people on a global scale, clearly more than most of the deadliest diseases in modern times. John Barry leaves little to imagination in his book as he gives a vivid description of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and exactly how this pandemic affected the human race. The book clearly outlines the human activities that more or less handed the human race to the influenza on a silver platter. “There was a war on, a war we had to win” (Barry, p.337). An element of focus in the book is the political happenings back at the time not only in the United States of America but also all over the world and how politicians playing politics set the way for perhaps the greatest pandemic in human history to massacre millions of people. The book also takes an evaluator look at the available medical installations and technological proficiencies and how the influenza pandemic has affected medicine all over the world.

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 impacted places throughout the world both negatively and positively. Often the reason for the major spread of pestilence was due to transportation of goods and people. This pandemic infected people worldwide, killing millions. Overall people responded to the pandemic in different ways through commitment to the task, consulting religion, avoiding contact with others, and the effort to raise public health awareness.

and was only six when the flu epidemic happen. When the flu epidemic people called it “Spanish Influenza” and “whom took ill in the morning were dead by night” ( Survivors Remember 1918 Global Flu Pandemic). This Flu pandemic killed “More than 6000,000 people in the United States” but it killed “ at least 50 million people and perhaps as many as 100 million” (Survivors Remember 1918 Global Flu Pandemic). The Flu pandemic was so bad that it “made everybody afraid to go see anybody” (Survivors Remember 1918 Global Flu Pandemic). Sardo did not remember anything, only how terrified his mother was when he was

The United states faced one of the deadliest epidemics in US history from 1918-1919, killing nearly 675,000 americans. When it first started, it killed nearly half the US soldiers who fought in the war. By August of 1918, Philadelphia and Boston were already infected by influenza. Then by October 1919, influenza had killed nearly 200,000 americans.

Then, in the fall of 1918, influenza struck. People everywhere fell victim to the Spanish flu, dying of uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs and caused the patients to drown (Crane 1). Estimates say that approximately 20 to 40 percent of the world’s population became ill, and the worldwide death toll was around 20 to 40 million (“NVPO” 2). Around 675,000 people died in America alone (Crane 5). The Spanish flu struck quickly; you could feel well in the morning, get sick by noon, and be dead by nightfall (“NVPO” 2). The doctors were unable to cure the Spanish flu, so the people resorted to superstitious practices, such as wearing a

The 1918 influenza had a catastrophic impact on the world. It washed over the world in waves, killing millions from even the most remote places on every continent. No one was safe from this lethal disease. It also had an odd pattern in victims that nobody had seen before, killing strong and healthy people. It was a ruthless disease that devastated it’s victims and killed them in a macabre way.

Influenza, normally called “the flu”, the influenza virus causes an infection in the respiration tract. Even though the influenza virus can sometimes be compared with the common cold. It also can cause a more severe illness or death. During this past century, pandemics took place in 1918, 1957, and 1968, in all of these cases there where unfortunately many deaths. The “Spanish flu” in 1918, killed approximately half a million people in the United States alone. It killed around 20 million worldwide. The “Asian flu” in 1957, in the United States their 70,000 people died. In 1968 the “Hong-Kong flu” There where 34,000 deaths in the United

Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new

In 1890, the first appearance recorded of a destructive influenza pandemic struck, killing many Americans. Those who survived lived on to experience the 1918 pandemic and tended to be more immune to the disease. By May 1918, reports of severe

Since the world has begun there was a large amount of massacres upon the human race, this was lead by a great number of epidemics. An epidemic is the swift spread of some type of deadly, contagious disease in a short amount of time span. A recent epidemic that has caused a vast number of people to become critically hospitalized is Bird flu. Bird flu, also known as Avian influenza, is an infectious deadly disease, that causes dairy farms to shut down, and caused numerous doctors to create their own personal log books.

My scientific opinion is that sneezes can spread a lot of germs. A lot of diseases spread by germs.

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.