SAFE TO BE ALERT RATHER THAN ANXIOUS

Investors watched in horror as on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,000 points, the third-biggest single day dip in the stock exchange’s history.

The cause? COVID-19, otherwise known as coronavirus, the infectious respiratory disease that has been on everyone’s newsfeeds and minds since 2020 began.

The coronavirus was believed to be first transmitted to humans in a food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Immediately, many elderly persons began presenting to local hospitals with severe pneumonia-like symptoms, and quickly the proper authorities were notified. The World Health Organization began to track and make strong efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

When reading coronavirus stories, the outlook often seems grim. By Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that nearly all Americans would be impacted by the virus, in some way.

However, around 100 years ago, in the shadow of the first world war, a much more powerful virus swept across the globe – one from which we can learn, and even draw hope. influenza, one of the deadliest plagues in human history.  

In early 1918, this virus crossed the species barrier. The origins are disputed, but its effects on history are not. We do know that one of the first documented outbreaks was in the U.S. Army’s Camp Funston, in Kansas. On March 14, 1918, one cook reported for sick leave with influenza; by noon the same day, he was joined by 107 others in the camp – followed by another 1,100 in the following weeks.

The flu’s spread was rapid among the overcrowded U.S. military bases. Soon, numerous camps around the country were reporting cases, but on the outside, it appeared that nobody noticed. Thirty eight soldiers died in Camp Funston, and around the country, death tolls soared to near 6,000, and still nobody noticed (so far as public/media scrutiny).  

But a much larger problem was brewing, one that would eventually cost the lives of millions. See, by 1918 the U.S. had entered World War I, and troops like the ones in Funston were headed for the battle trenches of France. Influenza was now destined for the unsanitary, cramped and horrid world of trench warfare.

The flu virus thrived in the close proximity to so many other hosts, and constant rotation of soldiers meant it had a constant stream of bodies to feed upon. Troops afflicted would be quarantined, but some British troops went home to England – and now, hopes of containing influenza was a pipe dream.

Also by then, influenza had traveled to Spain and since Spanish newspapers were unrestricted during wartime due to that nation’s neutrality, the sickness was covered wall-to-wall, which is where influenza got its most popular name, Spanish Flu.

Things were getting worse. Nobody truly knows why, but as the war raged on, the virus changed.  

In the beginning, Spanish flu would leave a victim sick for only a few days, but survival was likely. Similar to the coronavirus, it only killed the very young and elderly (the most vulnerable persons), but after spreading in Europe’s trenches, it had developed much more alarming traits. It began to target the young and healthy, eventually becoming so lethal it could end a life within 24 hours.

This version of Spanish Flu caused a cytokine storm (mass immune system response) in the victim’s body, which caused the lungs to fill with fluid. The stronger the person’s immune system, the stronger the response, and the stronger the response, the deadlier the virus became. Patients died from drowning – not from water, but because the immune response drowned them in their own fluids.

By mid-1918 Spanish Flu had gone global. It had returned to the United States on troop transport ships. In Philadelphia, the morgue filled with bodies, mass graves were dug for the mounting dead, the city ran out of coffins, then the wood to build more. Some 14,000 patients would end up dying in Philadelphia, alone.

In India, Mahatma Ghandi nearly died of Spanish Flu. He was lucky to survive, because an estimated 14-20 million of his fellow Indians would eventually die. In Japan, it spread after a sumo wrestling match and was called “Sumo-Disease.” To combat its spread the Japanese wore face masks, a tradition still commonly practiced today.

In the most isolated and remote regions of Alaska, entire indigenous populations were wiped out. Their dogs, now feral, ate their bodies. Pacific Islanders were especially vulnerable and some islands lost as many as 90% of their population, except for American Samoa, where authorities quarantined the entire island until 1920, saving its inhabitants’ lives.

However, just as fast as Spanish Flu came on, it disappeared later in 1918. This is either attributed to herd immunity, or a mutation that weakened it. Either way, it just stopped.

To this day, we are still counting the death toll. It killed more U.S. citizens than did the battles of World War I. In total, 20-100 million persons, globally, are believed to have died.  

A century later, with the outbreak of coronavirus, it is important to remember what we learned. Doctors back then could not even directly view a virus, so it was like fighting a ghost. Today, we know the cause was the H1N1 virus. We vaccinate for it every year during the flu season. Some of us (myself included) have been vaccinated for it this year.

Thankfully, deadly flu is, for the most part, a memory. We now have the WHO, already working diligently to stop corona’s spread. The recent cruise ship quarantine, while scary, was a bold and necessary move. As of Sunday, Feb. 23, there were just 35 cases here in the United States.

How to avoid/prevent further spread of the flu? Wash your hands when you  get home from a public place, or frankly, any time you touch something outside of your home. If you are young and have experienced few or no past illnesses, you have every single advantage on your side; do not panic. If you do feel fever, chills, or shortness of breath, get checked out. It is simply a matter of being alert. If you are older with past medical issues, you should not take any chances with any fever, and see a doctor.