What were the impacts of influenza on society in 1918 and present?

Question

we're studying the fluenza in social studies, wondering if you could help out, thanks!

Answer 1

Killed my mother's brother and one of her uncles. Made a lasting impression on my parents -- they wouldn't let us out in public when a flu epidemic was on. For good reason, too! The Spanish Flu was the worst epidemic in human history. Killed 30 - 40 million people.

The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 is a somber lesson which everyone should heed, because the human race is long overdue on the pandemic cycle. Could the next one be avian flu? Who knows? We'll see. Thing to remember is, we're now coming out of a narrow passage in the human story -- one in which "wonder" drugs helped us avoid all the epidemics and pandemics that were so prevalent before penicillin and the rest were discovered.

That was barely seventy years ago (penicillin), and now most of the bacteria are becoming resistant to our antibiotics, so we're not only overdue for a pandemic, when one hits, it may be a bacteria that we haven't worried about for seventy-some years come back to kill a lot of us again. By the way, it's not the flu that killed all the people, it was the secondary infections, mainly pneumonia, a nasty disease caused by a bacteria, one of the many which have mutated into drug resistant strains.

P.S. Flu strains are named for the country of their first emergence, and also for the animal hosts they began in before mutating into a virus in human host. Swine and birds are common hosts before the human hosted strains emerge. Like the Spanish flu which began in poultry. Like the swine flu, which I believe was also called the Hong Kong flu. I caught that one (1977) and I damn near died. Sick for a month. Whew.

Answer 2

The Spanish Lady traveled from Russia; after Russia surrendered to Germany in WW I; to the western front; and thence was spread all over the know world; wiping out some 20 million people, at best count. The major impact on society was the dawning of the understanding that things transpiring in one part of the world impacted the entire world; not just your own back yard.

Answer 3

50 million deaths worldwide in 1918. Mostly young healthy people died. It took the virus about a year to circle the globe without mass transportation. That virus killed less than 5% of those infected.
The avian flu we are watching now kills 50% of those infected. People circle the globe in a day now. You can carry this virus 10 days before showing symptoms. The implications are staggering. The countries where the emergence of the virus is happening are very ill-prepared to stop the spread. The whole world is ill-prepared if it does happen. It's frightening.

Answer 4

Well, I think you are asking about the social impact.

Personal stories are that people travel less, they didn't go out in public as much. Cities were more affected than the country side because people were in closer contact than rural setting.

It must have had an effect on the end of WWI since large numbers of people were moving around a lot and in poor conditions. (like trench war fare.)

Answer 5

That epidemic was finally determined to be a bird flu, similar to the one we now are concerned about.

Millions died, exact cound uncertain as recods were not kept well. It was almost a breakdown of civilization not seen since the Black Plague.

Answer 6

well its much easyer to deal with it now then it was back then, becuase before they would drain you with leachs, but now you go to someplace like eckerd, and your feeling better the next day, the flu isn't gone, but at least were able to treat the systems

Answer 7

there was no cure then or it was exspensive so alot of people died and it spread easily

Answer 8

it will be worst the next time

Answer 9

More toilet paper needed.

Answer 10

PANDEMIC