8. Spanish Flu
- Created by: xmeganbakerx
- Created on: 28-04-21 15:37
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- Spanish Flu
- What was Spanish Flu?
- A virus
- Flu endemic, normally responsible for 1-3% of deaths
- Not identifiable at the time, not visible under normal microscope
- Death resulted from uncontrolled immune response or from pneumonia or secondary infections
- Subtype of same virus that caused 2009 swine flu pandemic
- Three "waves"
- Spring 1918: before end of WWI, around time of crucial military campaigns leading to end of war in Europe.
- Autumn/winter 1918: around end of WWI.
- Winter 1919: after WWI.
- Who did it affect?
- Affected the young, people 20-40 years old.
- Required healthy immune system.
- Affected women, working class and poorer countries more seriously.
- Affected the young, people 20-40 years old.
- Deadly
- Big rise in mortality and massive dip in life expectancy.
- Killed around 50m in 2 years.
- WWI killed 17m in 4 years.
- Global deaths, almost everywhere in world.
- A virus
- Global public health
- Public health before Spanish Flu
- Big strides in public health in 19th c.
- Emergence of international health - quarantine regulations, research networks, conferences etc.
- Germ Theory
- Discovery that bacteria causes disease.
- Developed from 1860s by figures like Pasteur and Koch.
- Gradually gained acceptance among professionals.
- Public Health and Spanish Flu
- Germ Theory irrelevant and viruses poorly understood.
- Unclear that Spanish Flu was flu.
- Uncertainty about nature of epidemic, or how symptoms or waves were linked.
- Uncertainty about origins.
- Limited international coordination and information sharing.
- Reliance on traditional measures of public health.
- Public health before Spanish Flu
- World War I
- Flu exacerbated by war
- Huge movement of people - troops and civilians
- Poor living conditions and overcrowding
- Young healthy adults - soldiers
- Spike coinciding with Armistice celebrations
- National Security
- Warlike rhetoric of fight against flu and heroes fighting it.
- Treated as national security issue - quarantine etc.
- Reflected history of international public health and national or imperial security. Seen as threatening non-European disease - Asiatic disease.
- Spanish Flu differed from war
- Flu was more 'global' than war.
- Impact of flu more severe and arbitrary.
- Indiscriminate: even king of Spain and Woodrow Wilson caught virus.
- Flu exacerbated by war
- Remembering Spanish Flu
- In contrast to WWI
- WWI at heart of national memorial culture but this established through official efforts.
- No victory over Spanish Flu unlike WWI.
- Pandemic overshadowed by WWI.
- History of public health only relevant when new emergencies arise?
- Limited impact on public culture at the time.
- In contrast to WWI
- What was Spanish Flu?
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