by AngelaWhite

Created on: July 25, 2010

How the 1918 swine Flu spread in the US

In March of 1918, pigs and people came down with the flu at the same time. Flu in swine had not been previously reported before that time, leading researchers to believe the strain was passed from human to animal. The exact source, cause, or initial transmission have not been identified, though many think it is also the first instance of avian flu(bird) in pigs. For these three strains of flu to have met at the same time in the necessary patterns of antigen drifting needed to produce a global infection, is astronomical, leading scientists to do further autopsy studies on second wave fatality tissue that has recently been exhumed. First wave tissue has not been discovered and only this first contact material can be used for the tests which determine the exact source of any outbreak.

Fact: Pigs are one of the few animals capable of hosting influenza and not dying, allowing them to act as a perfect breeding ground for new and more lethal strains of flu that can be spread to the human population, including bird flu.

How the 1918 Swine Flu spread in the US

The first case reported in the United States was at Fort Riley, Kansas on March 4th, 1918. The next cases were in Queens, New York, on March 11th. The virus is thought to have gotten so far so fast from soldiers who were returning from the war by boat, where the virus raged unchecked in crowded holds, and from the transportation of sick soldier to hospitals by crowded rail, though this has not yet been proven.

 Some cities controlled the outbreak by closing schools and churches and by forbidding large gatherings but many of these places suffered higher mortality rates later, by lifting restrictions too soon. This allowed a second wave of the shifting virus to sweep the globe from September to November of 1918, with a third wave following in early 1919.  Cities with very high rates of infection and deaths were San Francisco, St. Louis, and Kansas City, MO, and Milwalkee.

The 1918 strain of Swine Flu was transmitted the same as other illnesses. Sneezing, coughing, saliva, breathing, and sex. This was not readily known at the time, which allowed the disease to spread faster.

28%of the Unites States was infected, with over 500,000 deaths. By June of 1920, it was gone and worldwide, nearly 2 billion people died. At the time, that was 30% of the planet's population. One third was infected.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic - 

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm 

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