A strain of the influenza that would eventually become a worldwide pandemic had been observed at Fort Riley, Kansas in the spring, but when the bug came back from Europe around Labor Day, it had become quite lethal and contagious . More
11 Comments on 100 Years Ago – Spanish Flu Breaks Out In Boston
Comments are closed.
My great aunt Lottie died of this flu
and her younger sister {my grandmother}
married my paternal grandfather.It sounds
inbred but it isn’t.
Thanks for posting Dr. I like this sort of history, and it helps me to teach/show my kids.
We’re but an infected Chinese chicken away from having something like this happen all over again.
My Great Uncle, Pvt Charlie Miller (6th Fla Artillery) died from this flu outbreak while he was still in France n October 1918. His body was later returned for burial at home. As if the number of deaths from the war weren’t bad enough, it really took a toll in the States.
I agree Dr. People do not seem to grasp how susceptible we are, nor how much faster it can travel now due to mass transit increases since then.
My wife always got mad at me for letting the kids, be kids. They need it. Let them play in the dirt, get scraps and bruises. Build their immune systems up.
The first Spanish invader & great killer of citizens within our borders.
One of the big negatives / risk made possible by rapid worldwide travel.
The iInfluenza Pandemic of 1918 – known as “Spanish Flu” or ” La Grippe”
https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/index.html .
Isn’t it great nobody is bringing things like whooping cough, measles, leprosy, tuberculosis, scabies, MRSA, polio, diptheria, smallpox, chicken pox, or ebola (among others) into our country? /sarc
Ah Bayouwulf, my great uncle Max came back from WW1 to find that more people he knew back home had died from the flu than any buddies he knew who got shot in the war.
When I talked to him in the late 70’s, he was still struck by that. Like going to volunteer to help flood victims only to come home and find your house burned down.
Now that I think about it. My great Aunt Bibbi said the war was a worry but the flu was a fear.
Tracking modern day flu variation
The Role of Genomics in Tracking the Evolution of Influenza A Virus
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2739293/ .
@Aaron Burr – I suspect soldiers from medieval crusader armies had much the same experience as your great uncle. Home from the war only to find half the people in their town wiped out by the plague.
There is a lot of research being done today into variants in DNA / chromosome that seem to have been caused by past pandemics that survivors have that those who perished did not. Much is learned comparing DNA of families that still live today where deadly pandemics occurred in the past where their ancestors lived vs DNA taken from skeletons in medieval grave sites in the same town that may have been from a family that perished or from a family member with modern day descendants. CC5R I think is how one variant is referred to. But I think there are other variant codes being researched.
The focus is the hope it may lead to a cure for HIV and cancer. I first heard of this about 12 years ago, the last time I was in the Netherlands. Skeletons from a medieval cemetery were found when a new city square was to be built next to St Catherine’s cathedral in Eindhoven. That were still being collected when I was there.