So we’re all familiar with the Spanish Flu right? The disease that spread after world war 1 in 1918.
Unlike a normal seasonal flu, what made the Spanish Flu so dangerous and deadly, and why did so many young adults in their 20’s and 30’s die from Spanish Flu? I also heard the virus killed more people than both world wars combined.
How did Spanish Flu kill so many people?
In: Other
Primary due to an outcome that also made Covid-19 so deadly – cytokine storm. In really simple terms, when a part of your body gets inflamed, it’s because your body is responding to something wrong – swelling and inflammation are part of your immune system’s response to a problem. These particular virus strains cause an extreme response from this system, sending far more inflammation supporting proteins through your body than would normally be released at once. Because of this, outcomes can actually be *worse* for people with very strong immune systems, as the sudden inflammation throughout your entire body effectively shuts your internal organs down. This is why so many young, otherwise healthy people died in the outbreak.
Funny enough, ‘Spanish Flu’ was a name given in the media to distance the populace from panic in the early days of the outbreak. Many researchers now believe the outbreak started on a single pig farm in Kansas.
I did some genealogy research a few years back, and found a great-great uncle who missed the WWI draft due to a leg injury from childhood. He moved to Philadelphia to look for work in the fall of 1918, and was dead from the flu in 6 weeks at the age of 19.
Latest Answers