The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

            When the year of 1918 is mentioned, most Americans think of World War I, when in reality, the Spanish Influenza was the true serial killer. It attacked 1/5 of the world’s population, and killed more people than the Great War. This deadly virus infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It was affecting the world as a whole, even those not infected. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918, which came in three waves, is responsible for 50 to 100 million lives.

            No one was prepared for an event of this magnitude to happen. Panic and loss of hope spread over the United States. On September 27, 1918 the influenza became a reportable disease, but at this point most states were unable to hold accurate records of patients, due to the vast numbers of sicken people. Since the pandemic followed immediately after World War I, the entire country was constrained from supplies and trained medical personnel. The War did provide nationalism, which was greatly needed to overcome this worldwide killer. Public Health services were asked by local officials to supply nurses and doctors.  The medical personnel that were sent often became ill before reaching their destination, and the slim number who did not become ill, were unprepared and under trained.

            The general public criticized the public health officials for their inability to unravel pathology of this outbreak. By the time the third wave of the influenza had hit the United States, they knew preventative measures needed to be taken immediately. The American Public Health Association issued policies to protect the citizens from this disease. They began putting people in quarantines as an act to contain the flu, but this required the individual to sacrifice their liberty for the good of others. Public gatherings soon became closed, such as schools, funerals, and town halls. This ban proved to being successful, because the cities that obeyed had more surviving citizens than those who did not follow social distancing laws. The public officials enforced the wearing of gauze masks, because most physicians and scientists believed the influenza was a bacteria instead of a virus, so the masks were actually ineffective. Laws were passed as well, such as a ban on spitting. Due to the strain on facilities, only the severe cases of the influenza would become hospitalized. The mild cases of the flu were asked to remain home.

            The Public Health Department’s goal was to educate the citizens on hygiene. They believe that if the general public is aware of the risks coughing, sneezing, and carless tissue disposal has on spreading the virus, then the pandemic would slowly cease. Flu posters were created and filled the streets with facts about the virus and played a large role in persuading the citizens to be cautious. Congress funded the Public Health Department with one million dollars to hire new doctors, but this made no positive impact. The newly hired medical personnel would generally catch the Spanish influenza within days of hire, similar to the nurses sent to states. This pandemic practically shut down the entire nation. Schools, businesses, telegraph and telephones services all collapsed due to the students and workers becoming ill. The streets piled high with trash, because the sanitation engineers were home sick. The mail service slowly came to a stop, due to ill workers. State and local departments of health suffered just as highly as the rest of the nation, suffering high absentee numbers.

This fatal virus was spread around the world in only two months due to the infected soldiers traveling to Asia, Africa, South America, and then returning to North America. The American military suffered greatly from the influenza. The war itself was already causing causalities, but this virus was infecting the soldiers that were not on the front line. The influenza discriminated against no one, traveling from base to base with the soldiers. The generals collaborated among each other in order to come up with the best-suited policies to halt the flu from spreading even further. By collaborating among each other and making hypotheses, the war generals became one step closer to eliminating the spread, even though there were limited options. At this point of the pandemic, all policies were based off what seemed most logical. The Spanish influenza was unprecedented in its strength by other pandemics. Trained medical personnel were sent to American training camps in Europe to assistance the soldiers. According to the American military, 26% of the army was sickened by the influenza. The army soon became the major factor of the Influenza pandemic.

Communication played a large role in the pandemic. At a time without social media, many people were completely left out from even knowing the virus existed. The most convenient way to communicate during this time period was to write letters, but that was before the mail service was on hold. A doctor living at a military base near Boston wrote to his friend upon his daily life with such detail that a reader could truly understand the reasoning behind worldwide panic.  With the spread of the virus occurring so rapidly, little work could carry on. Communicating to the Public Health Department provided these war camps with over 250 trained medical personnel when generally there was around 25 trained personnel in the medical field working to heal the soldiers.

            The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 was a shock to the universe, and also a polar opposite of your seasonal flu. Not to say this pandemic was positive in any way, but the nation came together in a way never seen before. The United States was forced to be innovative and collaborate in order to cease the pandemic, and they preformed the tasks well. It is proven that in times of devastation, countries come together and appreciate life from an entire new perspective.

Newspaper article warning citizens of the death tole from influenza

Ambulance in St. Louis during the influenza epidemic 

Mail man wearing a mask for protection against the flu

Influenza victims in 1918

Army affected by influenza in summer of 1918

Works Cited

United States Department of Health and Human Services 

I used this source to educate myself on the influenza pandemic of 1918. I found this source to be the most useful of all. It provides information from when the pandemic first strikes to the legacy of the pandemic. It has a section called "Life in 1918" that really helped me to grabs a better understanding of the struggles.

The Best Films Archive: Documentary on the Spanish Flu Pandemic in the United States

This source was a great resource for primary sources and hearing the first hand stories of the pandemic was interesting. The video features individuals from all over the country telling their stories of life during the influenza epidemic and how they dealt with the obstacles.

PBS: A Letter From Camp Devins, MA

This letter provided great knowledge about the impact the influenza pandemic had on the American Military. The author is a doctor at a base near Boston, and he writes to his friend about the adversity he is trying to overcome. It provides clear details, and draws a horrific image of what the soldiers were going through.

Stanford: The Public Health Response

I used this source to learn about the changes people were taking to avoid the flu. It discussed the authoritative and preventative measures they were following.

Harvard: Spanish Influenza in North America

I used this source to learn about extreme measures the citizens were taking in order to contain the virus, and how it continued to spread anyways. It taught me how powerful the virus truly was and how frustrating it must have been. The trauma was not only occurring in the United States, but the whole world.

Public Health Reports

This source provided the most factual information about being apart of the Navy or Army during the influenza pandemic. I learned the different waves the flu occurred and mainly focused on the influenza in crowded areas.

Textbook

This source only provided a single sentence on the influenza, but it is a reliable source. It gave me a good idea that I needed to find other sources, due to the lack of information.