The 1918 Pandemic

415 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay about 1918 pandemic flu

My name is Kayleigh Heath and I’m reporting live from Europe, one of the locations that was hit hard by the 1918 flu pandemic. I’m here to find out what, exactly, happened during the pandemic. So, I asked one of Europe’s citizens, named Steve. He told me that it was the deadliest pandemic in recent history. Once flu symptoms were visible, it wasn’t long before people started dying. The pandemic killed around 100 million people worldwide. The majority of businesses and public places were closed to prevent the flu from spreading further. Hospitals and funeral homes were overcrowded by the sick and the dead, causing many people to bury their loved ones themselves. After I talked to Steve, I decided to talk to a news reporter, named Joe. He informed me that everyone had to stay inside to stay safe and, in some areas, nobody was allowed to spit. The majority of the world shut down due to the deadliness and contagiousness of the disease. The flu arose around spring in 1918, but worsened that summer. Around a year later, the pandemic finally ended, but the tragedy never faded away from people’s minds. It could’ve ended sooner, but they didn’t have the technological advances, cures, …show more content…

I wanted to know what, exactly, the flu was and how it became so deadly. So, after I ate at one of Europe’s fine restaurants, I decided to ask another European citizen what they knew about the 1918 pandemic. Her name was Nancy and she gave me what I needed. She said that the flu is a disease that affects our Respiratory System. Also, she said that the reason it was so deadly was because it would take over your lungs, resulting in pneumonia. She even told me that her great-great-grandmother was one of the people who didn’t get infected, but was still impacted by all of the deaths that occurred during that time of events. About one-third of the world was corrupted, or infected, with this

Show More
Related

  • The Effects of The Black Death on the Economic and Social Life of Europe

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    " In less than four years the disease carved a path of death through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain and Normandy, made its way over the Alps into Switzerland, and continued eastward into Hungary" (Microsoft Bookshelf, page 1). After a brief respite, the plague resumed, crossing the channel into England, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually made its way into the northern countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and even as far north as Greenland. In other words, the plague touched almost the entire known world. So much death could not help but tear economic and social structures apart.

    Read More

  • Influenza Virus' Economic and Social Disruption to Society

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Influenza virus is a unique respiratory viral disease that can have serious economic and social disruption to society. The virus is airborne transmitted through droplets release by coughing or sneezing from an infected person or by touching infected surfaces. Symptoms range from mild to severe and may even result in death. People with the virus usually experience fever, headache, shivering, muscle pain and cough, which can lead to more severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia. People most susceptible to the flu virus are elderly individuals and young children as well as anyone whose health or immune system has been compromise. The most effective way to counteract the influenza virus is to get the flu vaccine which is available by shots or nasal spray before the flu season as well as practicing safe hygiene. (CDC, 2013)

    Read More

  • The Black Plague

    1637 Words  | 4 Pages

    If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality ( Merriam-Webster ). A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic affects of the plague in Europe were detrimental to the population and economy.

    Read More

  • WWI Sources

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ssor Heather MacDougall, “July – 11 November 1918: Pandemic Influenza on the Battlefield and Homefront,” Lecture delivered 9 November, 2011, HIST 191, University of Waterloo

    Read More

  • San Francisco and Influenza

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    The influenza, also known as the Spanish Flu, is affecting roughly all of northern California economically and socially whether San Franciscans notice it or not. Several schools, churches, and buildings are closed due to preventive orders by authorities. Insurance companies and the Government are spiraling downwards financially as they become responsible for the victims of this deadly influenza. Moreover, ordinances mandated the wearing of gauze masks in public places.

    Read More

  • Economic Impact Of The Black Plague

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Bubonic Plague, or more commonly known as ‘The Black Death’ or ‘The Black Plague,’ was one of the most devastating and deadliest pandemics that humans have ever witnessed in the history of mankind. The disease spanned two continents in just a few years, marking every country between Western Europe all the way to China. During the reign of the plague, which is estimated to be the years between 1347-1352, it is estimated that “20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population” was killed off due to the plague. The Black Plague would change the course of European history since the plague knew no boundaries and inflicted its wrath upon the rich and the poor alike. As a result, not only did the plague have a devastating demographic impact which encountered a massive social disruption, but also, an economic and religious impact as well.

    Read More

  • American Revolution Smallpox

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Revolution was started in 18th century based on the political, social and economical reasons in the thirteen colonies. The colonists discovered the United States of America by refusing the nobility and monarchy of the Great Britain. During the Revolution, an epidemic disease called smallpox was spread devastatingly and frequently. Smallpox was an enormously contagious disease caused by a specific type of virus variola which spread into the thirteen American colonies. The disease was new in the country to take place in Boston, Massachussetts first and by spreading the virus made a severe threat all over. It began with infection mainly in the blood vessels of the human skin and mouth, resulted in different kinds of symptoms for

    Read More

  • Quarantines In Canada

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quarantining became a relevant method used to keep a contagious disease in a confined area, rather than allowing it to rapidly spread across a country. Also, vaccines became a popular interest of scientists and doctors looking for cures to various illnesses. But, quarantines and vaccines were not the only prevention methods used to try and eradicate the flu; Canadians also used home remedies, public-humiliation, mask-warnings and public-building closures as a weapon against the pandemic. Learning from the past is the best way to improve in the future. Canadians proved this with an incredible advancement in disease prevention techniques while combating the deadly Spanish Influenza of

    Read More

  • Government Responses and Expectations During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 occurred during the midst of World War I, and it would claim more lives than the war itself. The disease erupted suddenly without a forewarning and spread rapidly across the globe. It seemed as though all of humanity had fallen under the mercy of this deadly illness. Influenza had very clear symptoms as described by William Collier in his letter to The Lancet. After a patient seizes their temperature can run up to 105° or more while their pulse averages at about 90 beats per minute. The high temperature and low pulse are frequently combined with epistaxis (nosebleed) and cyanosis (blueness of the skin). The epistaxis is caused by the high temperature and the cyanosis is caused by a lack of oxygen due to the decreased pulse (Kent 34). The author of Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919, Susan Kinglsey Kent, provides a brief history of the pandemic and documents from the time period. Many of the included documents show how unprepared and unorganized governments attempted to contain and control a disease they had never experienced, and how the expectations of the governments changed as a result of their successes and failures.

    Read More

  • War and Influenza Epidemic

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the Chelsea Naval Hospital, overlooking the Boston Bay, I sip on a cup of Joe and browse over the Sports Section of the Los Angeles Times. Earlier this month, three Bostonians dropped dead from influenza. In examining the extent of the epidemic, Surgeon-General Blue commented to the Times , "People are stricken on the streets, while at work in factories, shipyards, offices or elsewhere. First there is a chill, then fever with temperature from 101 to 103, headache, backache, reddening and running of the eyes, pains and aches all over the body, and general prostration." I gaze out my window, the sun seems brighter than usual and the town more radiant. It must be the victory, for the threat of death due to influenza is pervasive. Outside, children jump rope. With every skip of the jump rope they chant. "I had a little bird." Skip. "Its name was Enza." Skip. "I opened up the window." Skip. "And in-flu-enza."

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Influenza Vaccine

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kolata, Gina. Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Cause It. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Print.

    Read More

  • The Origins of the Spanish Flu of 1918

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    A few years before 1918, in the height of the First World War, a calamity occurred that stripped the globe of at least 50 million lives. (Taubenberger, 1918) This calamity was not the death toll of the war; albeit, some individuals may argue the globalization associated with the First World War perpetuated the persistence of this calamity. This calamity was referred to the Spanish Flu of 1918, but calling this devastating pestilence the “Spanish Flu” may be a historical inaccuracy, as research and historians suggest that the likelihood of this disease originating in Spain seams greatly improbable. Despite it’s misnomer, the Spanish Flu, or its virus name H1N1, still swept across the globe passing from human to human by exhaled drops of water that contained a deadly strand of RNA wrapped with a protein casing. Individuals who were unfortunate enough to come in contact with the contents of the protein casing generally developed severe respiratory inflammation, as the Immune system’s own response towards the infected lung cells would destroy much of the lungs, thus causing the lungs to flood with fluids. Due to this flooding, pneumonia was a common cause of death for those infected with Spanish Flu. Due its genetic similarity with Avian Flu, the Spanish Flu is thought to be descended from Avian Flu which is commonly known as “Bird Flu.” (Billings,1997) The Spanish Flu of 1918 has had a larger impact in terms of global significance than any other disease has had because it was the most deadly, easily transmitted across the entire globe, and occurred in an ideal time period for a disease to happen.

    Read More

  • The Spanish Flu - Response to the Influenza of 1918

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    (Barry 5). In the United States, the experience during the pandemic varied from location to location. Some areas were better off whereas some were hit horribly by the disease, such as Philadelphia. It also came as a shock to many, though some predicted it's coming; few thought it would strike with the speed and lethality that it did. Though the inherent qualities of the flu enabled its devastation of the country, the response to the flu was in part responsible as well.

    Read More

  • Economic Impact of the 1918 Epidemic of Spanish Flu

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the United States alone over 700,000 people died, which is greater than the total number of American deaths in both World Wars, The Korean War, and Vietnam, combined. One of the major takeaways from studying the flu epidemic is that it offers a real-life example of what impact population shocks have on economies. Major plaques such as the black plaque lack the data required to arrive at a conclusive analysis, while economic theory is too ambiguous to accurately model the situation. In the case of the 1918 flu epidemic, known commonly as the Spanish Flu, records exist which allow economists to draw conclusions on the impact of population shocks on the world economy. With every pandemic, the initial result is the death of a substantial portion of the population of the impacted area.

    Read More

  • An Essay On The Bubonic Plague

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the virus that had raged its way through Europe was so deadly, virulent and lethal that victims were reported to go to bed healthy and died in their sleep. This disease ripped society apart. This plague has killed many and ruined the lives of others.

    Read More

More about The 1918 Pandemic

Open Document