The Spanish Flu Killed More Men Than WW1The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was the worst pandemic the world has seen. It killed more in one year than the Black Death did in four. More men died of flu than had died of wounds in the entire first world war. The 1918 flu pandemic lasted 1½ years and killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide. Between 3% and 6% of the world population died. In some places whole villages were wiped out. So many people were affected that sometimes there was no one well enough to treat the sick or bury the dead. This terrible illness struck just as the Great War was ending and people thought the killing was over. Soldiers returning home from the trenches spread the disease rapidly around the globe. Up to half the world’s population were infected. Young men, who had survived the horrors of war, got home only to die of flu. Had the mustard gas used in the war weakened them? Up to half the world’s population were infected. While most recovered completely with a week’s bed rest, many others died within 24 hours of contracting the disease.
· It appeared in summer rather than winter · It caused much more serious symptoms than normal flu · It killed mainly healthy young adults, rather than the very old and very young. · The mortality rate was many times higher than with ordinary flu.
It doesn't look as if today’s swine flu is going to mutate to a form as virulent as the 1918 flu, though the scaremongers are still trying to persuade us it will. Just in case, it’s wise to look after your health. Those who are really healthy are less likely to get anty type of flu.
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