All throughout time, disease has been around. Wherever there are living things, disease is around and this is the inevitable reality of life. The current situation that we are living in is representative of a true pandemic. Although it is the first global pandemic we have experienced in our life time, it is definitely not the first pandemic that existed in the history of the world. The historical pandemic that I found in my research and that I will be talking about today is the Spanish Flu.
The Spanish Flu began in January of 1918 and lasted all the way until December of 1920, so this lasted almost 3 years. Like most flu viruses, it was expected to only be deadly to the very young and the very old, however this flu virus resulted in a much higher death rate than expected in young adults. It is believed that this disease started among the soldiers during World War 1. It was very easily spread because of the extremely close quarters that the soldiers were living in. Additionally, the malnourishment of the soldiers definitely weakened their immune system, making them more susceptible to the extreme symptoms of this disease.
This virus was very rapidly spread throughout the world because of the new presence of rapid transportation throughout the world. Additionally, with the soldiers returning back to their home countries after being all around the world, this rapidly spread the virus to all stretches of the world. It is believed that the Spanish Flu infection 500 million people globally which was about 25 percent of the worlds population at the time. The death toll of the flu is not exact but it is estimated to be between 17 and 50 million people. Some of the events that occurred during this pandemic are essentially similar to the events we are witnessing today during the Corona Virus pandemic. All citizens were ordered to wear masks, businesses were shut down, and make shift morgues were being made due to the mass number of dead bodies.
Overall, the Spanish Flu is known to be the deadliest pandemic in human history. Overtime, history has shown us that pandemics are an inevitable part of humans living in close contact with each other. As the Corona Virus continues to spread it has been made very clear that history does in fact repeat itself.
I read about the same virus that you wrote about. I think it is crazy to think that there are some viruses that have caused so much damage in the past. The Spanish Flu is a representation of one of deadliest pandemics, and since it was airborne people were afraid just like we are at the moment--but worse. I also read about the AIDS/HIV pandemic and found it interesting although it isn't airborne.
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