The Link Between Coronavirus And Spanish Flu That Killed 100 Million People

It is already 100 years the world was faced with what will remain as one of the most deadly disease in the history of mankind.

While the world was still at the infant level in the field of medicine science, a deadly disease called Spanish Flu hit the world and affected about 500million people, half of the world population as at then.

The disease which was described as deadly started on January 1918 in Spain and rapidly spread across the world. The shortage of medical personnel, poor communication and non availability of antibiotic made the disease to spread at an astronomical rate and one in three humans were infected and between 17 million and 100 million people perished around the world when it finally ended by December 1920.

An emergency hospital during Spanish flu influenza pandemic, Camp Funston, Kansas, c. 1918 (Image credit: Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine

The most frequently used death statistics of the deadly Spanish flu came from the famous Nail Johnson and Juergen Mueller's 
2002 study which had estimated the death toll of the virus to be 50 million and warned that this might be 100 percent underestimate, and concluded that a total of 100 million people died during the outbreak of the deadly flu.

Members of the Red Cross give a demonstration at an Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918 

What makes it difficult to keep accurate record was because of the absence of record-keeping capacity in the late 1910s and research has always rely on estimate.

The millions of deaths were attributed to the lack of antibiotics capable of treating flu-related pneumonia infections, ansecen of antiviral drugs as the first antiviral drug came out in 1963.

Other contributing factors included the absence of Health Organizations like World Health Organization which made it difficult to surveil and track new outbreak of the disease.

What is the Link With Coronavirus?

History showed that Spanish flu disease was contagious, pandemic and spread so rapidly across the world that collapsed the world economy and threatened human existence.

Symptoms

The symptoms of Spanish Flu are similar to what we have as the symptoms of Covid-19 today. The early symptoms of the deadly flu included a sore head and tiredeness, followed by a dry hacking cough, a loss of appetite; stomach problems; and then on the, on the second day, excessive sweating. The next and most difficult, the disease will affect the respiratory organs and pneumonia could develop which causes death.

What Was the Advice Given To People Then?

At the climax of the deadly disease, medical practioners were at losss as to what to recommend to the people, just like the case of Covid-19, many physicians as at then urged people to avoid crowded places or simply other people which is the same as the present social distance and infected persons well also quarantined.

Nurses preparing masks to prevent the spread of influenza in 1918. (Image credit: National Archives )

Doctors also told people to keep their mouth and nose covered in public which is same as the present nose mask we are using in the case of Covid-19.

Typist wearing a mask to prevent influenza, New York, 1918. (Image credit: National Archives )

According to Johns Hopkins researchers
as at the time of this write-up, Coronavirus has infected a total of confirmed cases of Coronavirus stands at 1,622,167 with 97,264 deaths from 185 countries which has posed more fear if the world is going the horrific experience of Spanish flu.

There seems to be a strong connection between the Spanish flu of 1918-1920 which killed millions of people and threatened human existence and the present coronavirus pandemic.

Isah Bala