Forum Eerste Wereldoorlog

[Percy Toplis]

Scientific American - November 1918: Influenza Sweeps the World

(...)Influenza Invades - “In the recent epidemic of influenza the United States Public Health Service was called upon for a far greater measure of service to the nation than it was able to render. This onslaught of the Grim Reaper (to borrow a phrase from the fledgling reporter's vocabulary) found the country unprepared. The Health Service did well, under the circumstances. An emergency appropriation of a million dollars was rushed through Congress. The Volunteer Medical Service Corps furnished a list of a thousand physicians, to whom temporary appointments were offered by telegraph. Some nurses, though far too few, were obtained with the aid of the American Red Cross. All these measures, however, savor of improvisation; and a newly arrived Martian would certainly gain the impression from the recent occurrence that no great epidemic of disease had ever before visited our nation. Otherwise (we may suppose the enlightened stranger saying to himself) these Earthians would have had the defensive machinery all ready to set in motion.” (...)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/november-1918-peace-arrives-but-influenza-sweeps-the-world/
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Percy Toplis]

UK Parliament - November 5, 1918 - Commons Sitting - INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC: RESEARCH WORK

Mr. ROWNTREE asked the Comptroller of the Household, as representing the National Health Insurance Commissioners, whether the Medical Research Committee of the National Insurance Com missioners has for some time past been undertaking important research work in connection with influenza; whether the results of the research have been made public; and, if so, whether a full use is being made of the knowledge they have acquired?

Sir EDWIN CORNWALL (Comptroller Of the Household) In view of the public importance of the subject-matter of the three parts of my hon. Friend's question, my reply is necessarily of some length, and I would therefore ask him to let me circulate it with the OFFICIAL REPORT instead of reading it now.

The following is the reply circulated:

The Medical Research Committee have been continuously engaged, since the beginning of the first wave of the epidemic last spring, upon special efforts in regard to the etiology and the prevention of influenza and its complications. They have collected and periodically published expert reports of observations from all quarters, and have organised special researches in regard to it. These efforts have been more restricted than would otherwise have been the case owing to the urgent needs of the Army for pathological and other investigations into numerous kinds of diseases and wound problems, in which the Committee have also been heavily engaged from the outbreak of war until now. The Committee's activities in all these fields are fully set out in their Annual Reports to me, which are presented to Parliament, and have a wide distribution amongst experts and the profession, for whom they are, of course, from their nature, mainly useful. Their Fourth Report, which is now before me, will be published in a few days.

In reply to the second part of the question, I may say that in the first week of last August the Committee sent to the medical newspapers, for the information of the medical and health authorities, a résumé of various important communications on the subject of influenza, including an indication of the likelihood of the onset of secondary waves of the epidemic in the autumn, which their inquiries led them to expect would be more severe in character than the primary wave of last spring. For that reason the Committee on that date publicly invited observations from experts at various centres with a view to the further organisation of co-ordinated work in the study of those secondary waves. The severity of the present epidemic now shows that that anticipation on the part of the Committee, which can be read in the "British Medical Journal," of 10th August, was all too fully correct, and that the Committee did its duty in giving the warning beforehand to the expert authorities.

As regards the actual epidemic itself, the Committee have been continuously collecting expert information, likely to be useful to the health authorities and the medical profession, as to its nature and progress in Europe, from the chief foreign sources, including much important work done during these months in Germany and Austria. This the Committee have periodically published in English, combined with the results of British observations, in their Monthly Medical Supplements, of which several thousand copies are regularly distributed amongst professional experts and put on sale, early copies being sent to the Medical Department of the Local Government Board and other Government Departments concerned. My hon. Friend should see specially the September, October, and November issues, of which I am sending him copies.

With reference to the practical side of the problem, I should state that the Committee were strongly represented at the important conference of bacteriologists, held at the War Office some weeks ago on the possibilities of utilising vaccines for the prevention or treatment of the prevailing forms of influenza amongst the troops, under the chairmanship of Sir William Leishman, Adviser in Pathology to the Army Medical Department, and also a member of the Medical Research Committee. The outcome of that discussion was issued to the medical Press by Sir William Leishman, and it also appeared in the pamphlet issued by the 1943Local Government Board on the subject. In addition to this, the Committee's Bacteriological Department have been giving aid to the War Office in the steps which have been taken to prepare and provide protective vaccines against the dangerous complications of secondary infections amongst the troops; and the Committee's Secretary concurrently made suggestions to the medical officer of the Local Government Board for analogous steps to be taken by that Board for the benefit of the civil population.

In this connection, and in reply to the third paragraph of the question, I must remind my hon. Friend that it is not the duty of the Medical Research Committee to carry out the actual treatment or prevention of this disease, which is the province of the public health authorities, local and central, but to obtain new knowledge and valuable information in regard to it by special researches and otherwise, and to have this readily available to those health authorities, for them to put to its proper practical uses for the benefit of the civil population. The earlier paragraphs of this reply will have shown, I hope, that the Committee has carried out its proper functions in this respect with considerable effectiveness, especially in view of the difficulties occasioned by the constant loss of trained researchers claimed for military service.

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1918/nov/05/research-work
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Patrick Mestdag]

Effen meegeven, zonet in een documentaire gehoord
“Après la guerre, l’impossible oubli » van (Gabriel le Bomin) .
Er zijn in alleen Frankrijk tussen Oct 1918 en Oct1919 , -
250.000 doden aan de Spaanse griep toe te schrijven .
En verder 40.000 wereldwijd . Cijfers zijn wat ze zijn .
Maar dit is wat ze vertelden in de docu .
@+
Patrick
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Verdun ….papperlapapp! Louis Fernand Celine
Ein Schlachten war’s, nicht eine Schlacht zu nennen“ Ernst Junger .
Oublier c'est trahir ! marechal Foch

[Pegoud]

40.000 wereldwijd, Patrick? Is dat geen foutje?

Gr P
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Wie achter de kudde aanloopt, sjouwt altijd door de stront.

[Patrick Mestdag]

drie 000 vergeten te typen.
Dus 40.Miljoen
_________________
Verdun ….papperlapapp! Louis Fernand Celine
Ein Schlachten war’s, nicht eine Schlacht zu nennen“ Ernst Junger .
Oublier c'est trahir ! marechal Foch

[Percy Toplis]

1918 Influenza: A Winnebago County, Wisconsin Perspective
Teri Shors, PhD and Susan H. McFadden, PhD

ABSTRACT - The population of Winnebago County in 1918 was approximately 62,000 residents. It consisted of towns supporting diverse manufacturers surrounded by farming country. For this study, records were revisited, and 1918 to 1920 influenza survivors were interviewed. A pharmacological investigation encompassing the various influenza treatments used in Wisconsin from 1918 to 1920 was documented. In 1918, over 180 individuals perished from influenza, and over 2000 cases were reported in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Influenza returned in 1920, which some researchers refer to as the “fourth wave,” claiming nearly 50 lives in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. This study also documents the 1920 influenza wave.

Lees verder op https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801698/
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Percy Toplis]

Spanish flu devastated rural Alaska in 1918.

The 1918 viral pandemic known as the Spanish flu, killed millions worldwide and devastated rural communities in Alaska. 72 of 80 residents in Brevig Mission died during that time. Dillingham was also hit hard.

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/12/06/spanish-flu-devastated-rural-alaska-in-1918-are-we-better-prepared-for-a-pandemic-100-years-later/
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Percy Toplis]

1918 Pandemic Influenza Historic Timeline

In 1918, a new influenza virus emerged. During this same time period World War I was taking place. The conditions of World War I (overcrowding and global troop movement) helped the 1918 flu spread. The vulnerability of healthy young adults and the lack of vaccines and treatments created a major public health crisis, causing at least 50 million deaths worldwide, including approximately 675,000 in the United States. Below is a historical timeline of major events that took place during this time period.

Bekijk het maar op https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Percy Toplis]

What New York Looked Like During the 1918 Flu Pandemic
By Michael Wilson, The New York Times, April 2020

The Spanish flu raced through crowded tenements and neighborhoods, killing more than 20,000 New Yorkers. But it could have been much worse.

Veel foto's! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/nyregion/spanish-flu-nyc-virus.html
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Percy Toplis]

Why the Second Wave of the 1918 Spanish Flu Was So Deadly

The first strain of the Spanish flu wasn’t particularly deadly. Then it came back in the fall with a vengeance.

The horrific scale of the 1918 influenza pandemic—known as the "Spanish flu"—is hard to fathom. The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims— that’s more than all of the soldiers and civilians killed during World War I combined.

While the global pandemic lasted for two years, the vast majority of deaths were packed into three especially cruel months in the fall of 1918. Historians now believe that the fatal severity of the Spanish flu’s “second wave” was caused by a mutated virus spread by wartime troop movements.

Lees verder op https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-second-wave-resurgence
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“I hope you live a life you are proud of. If you find that you are not, l hope you have the strength to start all over again.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Patrick Mestdag]

SPAANSE GRIEP KOSTTE HET LEVEN AAN 282.165 BELGEN

De ‘moeder aller pandemieën’ die onder de mat geveegd werd


https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20200419_04927397?&articlehash=2A06475A5A657515F0BC79801946FFE880B36356056F9142B121FAB8FA78FB963EFA58007CFA2527C01C19C5D8F4C084BC1473354D9F1E53DB16A42CE976AF6B
_________________
Verdun ….papperlapapp! Louis Fernand Celine
Ein Schlachten war’s, nicht eine Schlacht zu nennen“ Ernst Junger .
Oublier c'est trahir ! marechal Foch