Importance of the Spanish Flu of 1918

In the first months of 1918, World War I was in its final stretch and the whole of the public opinion I was focused on the future of this event. In this context, disturbing news emerged: a flu epidemic was causing devastation in Europe.

In a few months its effects were manifested throughout the planet and according to the majority of studies carried out, 25 million people died in the first six months of 1918.

It is estimated that the Spanish flu killed 5% of the world population, approximately 500 million people.

At that time Spain was not participating in the Great War and for this reason the media they treated the news of the flu in a special way and because of this the epidemic was known internationally as “the Spanish flu”.

In 1918 the European population became aware of a fact: the flu was killing more individuals than the world war itself.

In principle, this pathology presented with the typical symptoms of the flu: malaise, headache, fever and cough. However, the 1918 flu virus had characteristics very singular and in a few days an infected person could die.

European hospitals were overwhelmed, both by war wounded and flu patients. The effects of the pandemic had an international dimension. After a few days of agony, the sick died. The doctors were completely overwhelmed, since they did not have an effective treatment against the disease. Likewise, in 1918 the constant movements of the troops caused the expansion of the disease. Some experts consider that the flu phenomenon and the world war were directly related, since the physical weakness of the soldiers favored the contagion of some diseases.

To combat the effects of the epidemic, all kinds of medicines and substances were tried: aspirin, formaldehyde, quinine, alcohol or injections of turpentine essence. At the same time, some took advantage of the circumstances to launch miraculous elixirs on the market.

An important part of the population decided to put on a protective mask to avoid contagion. All these measures were useless and the whole of humanity lived in a situation of panic.

100 years later, the exact origin of the pandemic is still unknown

Scientists study information about "the Spanish flu" from 1918. The objective of this investigation has a double interest:

1) understand the cellular mechanisms that triggered this event and

2) prevent any possible repetition of that devastating pandemic. It is currently estimated that a new flu virus could spread across the entire planet in 24 hours.

Those who have studied the 1918 flu agree on one important point: it was not an epidemic but a pandemic.

While an epidemic is the spread of a bacterial or viral infection that affects a large number of people in a territory, A pandemic is an infection caused by a new virus or a mutation of an existing virus that can affect large territories.