The Spanish Flu Was Deadlier Than WWI | History

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NARRATOR: In 2017, more than 37% of adults in the U.S.

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got a flu shot.

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Roughly 80,000 died from the virus in the US.

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But in 1918, there was no flu shot,

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and at least 50 million people died around the world.

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That flu was known as the Spanish Flu,

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and it is the second deadliest plague in history,

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after, well, "the" Plague in the 1300s.

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So how exactly did a flu virus cause

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such massive death and destruction across the world?

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Well it helps to pinpoint where it started, except we

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can't, not with 100% certainty.

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It could have been the disease stricken trenches of World War

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I. Or maybe the Shanxi Province of China, where

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the outbreak of a respiratory disease in 1917

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may have actually been the flu virus.

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Or maybe even Camp Funston, a military base in Kansas

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where 48 soldiers died of flu-like symptoms

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right before an outbreak.

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What we do know for sure is that the Spanish

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Flu didn't start in Spain.

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So then why is it called the Spanish Flu?

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Well, the flu broke out during World War I. Neither the allied

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nor central powers wanted to admit to additional loss

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of life during a conflict that hinged on who had more

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manpower, so all the nations involved in the war

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limited reports of the outbreak.

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In the US, some people were even afraid that reporting the flu

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might violate the "Sedition Act of 1918,"

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a law that prohibited disloyal language

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about the government and any action

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against the prosecution of the war.

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But Spain wasn't in World War I. And since they

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had no reason to hide anything, they reported

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their flu-related deaths.

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Even the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII got the disease,

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but ultimately survived.

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So with the spotlight on Spain, US and European news outlets

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nicknamed it the Spanish Flu.

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But the flu was spreading well outside of Spain.

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And with a large scale of infections going unreported,

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no one was prepared for the deadly pandemic

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it would become.

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Today, we know the flu is a highly contagious

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viral infection that spreads to the nose, throat,

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and sometimes the lungs.

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Symptoms, such as fever, nausea, aches, and a sore throat,

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are all standard.

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It's a terrible possibly fatal disease that confines

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the afflicted to bed for days.

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But the 1918 Flu was worse.

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Dark spots would appear on the body

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before the skin turned blue from a lack of oxygen

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in their blood.

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And patients would bleed from their noses and ears,

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as they suffocated on their own blood and fluids.

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In 1918, at Camp Funston, US army doctor Roy Grist

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remarked, "It is only a matter of a few hours

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then until death comes, and it is simply a struggle for air

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until they suffocate.

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It is horrible."

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The outbreak at Camp Funston affected more than 1,000

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soldiers and killed 47.

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But those 1,000 were part of 1 million

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soldiers throughout Kansas who were all

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in contact with one another.

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Those soldiers were then sent overseas in the spring of 1918,

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carrying flu microbes that would spread faster than the war

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itself.

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In the fall of that same year, a second wave of flu cases

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started spreading across the US, hitting both

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military and civilian centers.

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Doctors had never before seen such a deadly strain

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of influenza.

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To make matters worse, knowledge of viruses at the time

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was limited, since microscopes of the day

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were not powerful enough to see them.

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People began blaming the Germans,

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claiming they were spreading poison clouds

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or that Bayer, which was a German owned company,

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had infected their aspirin.

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As the flu spread in America, even public health officials

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began to lie about the state of things,

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like Philadelphia's public health director Wilmer Krusen,

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who, in September of 1918, declared, "no concern whatever

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is felt," after a Navy ship from Boston

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arrived with infected passengers.

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The next day, two sailors died.

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The day after that, 14.

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There was little to be done to stop the spread of the virus.

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Doctors had no way to create a vaccine, antiviral drugs,

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or even antibiotics for secondary infections,

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like pneumonia.

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Instead, most prevention efforts focused

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on quarantine and personal hygiene.

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Schools, churches, and other public gathering spaces

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were shut down in many cities.

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In San Francisco, they went so far as

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to fine people $5 who didn't wear protective masks,

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dubbing them "mask slackers."

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And in the end, after only one year,

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the death toll was catastrophic.

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To put things in perspective, more than 16 million people

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died in World War I. The Spanish Flu killed

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at least 50 million people.

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And some believe the number may be closer to 100 million.

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In the US alone, 675,000 people will die from the flu.

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That's more American deaths than American soldiers

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who died in World War I. It's more

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than all the deaths of American soldiers

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in the 20th century combined.

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And in October of 1918, 195,000 Americans

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died, making it the deadliest month in US history.

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Death was so prevalent between the war and flu

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that life expectancy in the US dropped by 12 years.

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Even Woodrow Wilson was affected by the Spanish Flu,

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having collapsed during the Versaille Peace Conference

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with flu-like symptoms.

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The outbreak of Spanish Flu is what spurred the development

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of a vaccine, although scientists didn't even

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isolate the influenza virus for study

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until 1933, 15 years later.

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The first flu vaccine was developed in 1938

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and was later given to US soldiers in World War II.

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After the war, it was finally used

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to treat the American public.

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