The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
Hard as it is to believe, the answer is true.
World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world’s population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.
The plague emerged in two phases. In late spring of 1918, the first phase, known as the “three-day fever,” appeared without warning. Few deaths were reported. Victims recovered after a few days. When the disease surfaced again that fall, it was far more severe. Scientists, doctors, and health officials could not identify this disease which was striking so fast and so viciously, eluding treatment and defying control. Some victims died within hours of their first symptoms. Others succumbed after a few days; their lungs filled with fluid and they suffocated to death.
The plague did not discriminate. It was rampant in urban and rural areas, from the densely populated East coast to the remotest parts of Alaska. Young adults, usually unaffected by these types of infectious diseases, were among the hardest hit groups along with the elderly and young children. The flu afflicted over 25 percent of the U.S. population. In one year, the average life expectancy in the United States dropped by 12 years.
It is an oddity of history that the influenza epidemic of 1918 has been overlooked in the teaching of American history. Documentation of the disease is ample, as shown in the records selected from the holdings of the National Archives regional archives. Exhibiting these documents helps the epidemic take its rightful place as a major disaster in world history.
Source: National Archives
c. 1918-1920
The “Forgotten” Epidemic
Remembering the flu that killed up to 100 million people worldwide, more than the combined deaths of WWI.
by Chris Wild
c. 1918
A U.S. Red Cross employee wears a face mask in an attempt to help decrease the spread of influenza.
IMAGE: PAUL THOMPSON/FPG/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
c. 1918
An American policeman wears a ‘flu mask’ to protect himself from the Spanish flu outbreak that followed World War I.
IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
The world behind a mask. From January 1918 to December 1920, a deadly influenza outbreak infected 500 million people across the world. Estimates suggest between 50 and 100 million people died from the virus, in other words, up to 5% of the planet’s population. It killed more people than any other illness in recorded history, more even than the total number of deaths in WWI.
c. 1918
Two women speak through flu masks during the epidemic.
IMAGE: KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES
Its name was Enza
I opened the window
And in-flu-enza
Oddly, this particular strain proved particularly dangerous for people aged 20-40, whereas flu viruses typically kill mostly the very young and elderly. Two years’ worth of sickness decreased the average American lifespan by 10 years overall.
Many cities and entire countries placed full restrictions on all public gatherings and travel, in an attempt to halt the spread of the epidemic. Theaters, churches and other public places were closed for over a year, and many funerals were limited to only 15 minutes. In fact, so many people had the virus that, in some locations, everyday life effectively stopped.
December 1918
A Seattle, Washington streetcar conductor refuses entry to a commuter who is not wearing a mask. Precautions taken in the city required passengers to wear masks on public transportation.
PHOTOQUEST/GETTY IMAGES
October 1918
A New York city street sweeper wears a mask to help check the spread of influenza.
IMAGE: PHOTOQUEST/GETTY IMAGES
Why “Spanish”? To read the newspapers of 1918, Spain was hit particularly hard by the virus. On the contrary: 1918 was the last year of World War I and, in an attempt to maintain morale, the United States, Britain, France and Germany suppressed newspaper reports of the illness. Neutral Spain, with no war morale to maintain, did not censor its newspapers; so, to the rest of the world, the flu appeared particularly nasty there.
27th February 1919
A patient wears a flu nozzle.
IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
1918
Unident baseball players, one batting and one catching, plus an umpire behind the plate, wear flu masks.
IMAGE: UNDERWOOD AND UNDERWOOD/UNDERWOOD AND UNDERWOOD/THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
Why do we consider this outbreak “forgotten”? Experts believe it was the speed of the pandemic — most deaths occurred within a nine-month time frame — plus reduced media coverage. It also occurred at a time when pandemics were more commonplace than today, and were therefore more familiar to the population at large. Health authorities, in an attempt to reduce panic, were known to refer to it as “only the flu.”
1920
A man prepares ‘anti-flu’ spray for buses of the London General Omnibus Co. (London, March 2, 1920).
IMAGE: DAVIS/GETTY IMAGES
IMAGE: H. F. DAVIS/TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
Perhaps most significant, the influenza outbreak coincided with the final year of what was then called “The Great War” (WWI). The war had already exacted a massive psychological toll on the globe, but frequent international combat probably also had a hand in spreading the virus. In fact, the virus killed more people than World War I. But to a world already weary of death and governed by seemingly endless tragedy, the obituaries of the 1918 influenza pandemic were the latest in a list it had been reading for four years.
1918
Seattle policemen wear protective gauze face masks during the influenza epidemic.
IMAGE: TIME LIFE PICTURES/NATIONAL ARCHIVES/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES