eli5: Why was the second wave of the Spanish Flu so much deadlier than the first?
In: Biology
As others have said, could be bad reporting. War-time censorship meant it wasn’t spoken about much in the media, which is why it’s known as the “Spanish Flu” because they didn’t have such restrictions on reporting, plus the King had it so it was a major news story.
The other reason was possibly a “reverse” of the usual mutation and spreading patterns of a strain of flu. Normally, those who are mildly ill would be out and about spreading it, those more ill would stay at home, not spreading it. The virus then “evolves” into a less deadly strain.
But because this was in WW1, the reverse happened – soliders with a mild strain stayed put in heavily fortified areas (trenches, etc), not mixing with civilians. While the seriously ill were sent to field hospitals, etc to be treated by civilian volunteers. So the deadlier strain spread more quickly.
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