Spanish woman: what you don’t know about the biggest epidemic in history? [WE EXPLAIN]
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The Spanish flu is a contagious disease that became the source of a deadly pandemic in the early 50th century. According to various estimates, the Spanish flu epidemic has resulted in the deaths of up to 100-XNUMX million people worldwide. What do we know about Spanish today? And can this knowledge be related in some way to the current coronavirus epidemic?

  1. The Spaniard was the most dangerous strain of flu that existed and has been studied so far
  2. The pandemic lasted from 1918 to 1919 (some sources say until 1920). Half a billion people have infected the virus, and the death toll has ranged from 50 to 100 million
  3. Many people have died from complications from the Spanish flu. The disease weakened the body and the lungs, which favored other infections, including bacterial pneumonia
  4. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

We remind you of the text that appeared on Onet in 2020.

That’s it the most dangerous strain of flu known in modern history. Spaniard is the name of a disease caused by a virulent form of the H1N1 virus, the influenza A virus. The pathogen contributed to the outbreak of the world pandemic in 1918–1919, although some sources say that it ended in 1920.

During this great epidemic, between 50 and 100 million people died as a result of the Spanish woman, and estimates show that up to half a billion people worldwide became infected.

The Spanish flu mainly attacked young adults aged 20–40. The high incidence and mortality in this group was surprising, after all, deaths from infectious diseases usually affect the elderly, the sick or children.

Over the years, many theories have been formulated about the flu that caused the deadly epidemic in 1918. Some have been verified thanks to medical advances, others remain unclear. So what do we know about the Spanish flu?

  1. In the United States, the pandemic is gaining momentum. Dr. Fauci: the situation is alarming

The Spanish pandemic did not start in Spain

The name of the lethal flu from the early XNUMXs can be misleading. Contrary to appearances, the Spanish woman has little to do with Spain, where she performed, but did not develop there. To this day, it is not clear where exactly the Spanish flu spread to the rest of the world. East Asia, Europe and the United States are considered likely regions.

The link between Spain and the Spanish flu was the result of circumstances related to the First World War. The ongoing conflict caused the countries directly involved to avoid reporting the current extent of the epidemic. As a result, England, the USA, Germany, Austria and France did not make too much information available to the public. It was different with neutral Spain, which was constantly reporting on the development of the pandemic and its death toll. Due to numerous reports of influenza, Spain was considered a particularly affected country.

The Spanish virus did not differ much from the other flu strains in many respects. Thus, it was not a super virus, although it was associated with a higher mortality (up to 10–20% of deaths among the infected) than in the case of typical flu strains (less than 1% of deaths).

The highest mortality rate, just up to 20%, concerned high-density human communities – military camps or urban areas.

Read: Coronavirus isn’t the first. The biggest epidemics in recent years

The war, during which food was scarce and the sanitary conditions worse than usual, may have contributed to the severe course of the disease and numerous deaths. It is now also believed that many people died as a result complications of the Spanish flu. The disease weakened the body and the lungs, which favored other infections, including bacterial pneumonia.

Worth knowing

Modern research shows that the Spanish woman caused a severe immune reaction in many patients – a storm of cytokines. It was she who could be responsible for such a high mortality in healthy people.

The course of the Spanish flu pandemic

The Spanish epidemic happened in three waves. The first wave of the disease flooded the world in the first half of 1918 and was the mildest. Tragic consequences turned out to be second wave of spanishwhen mortality increased significantly. The likely cause was the spread of the more virulent form of influenza in hospitals and military camps where many sick people were confined to a limited space. The last great exacerbation of the disease was in the spring of 1919, but this time not as many people died as during the second wave.

In total, nearly 500 million cases of Spanish women have been reported in the world.

In 1918, medical personnel could not use any effective antiviral drugs to deal with the Spanish woman. Despite the passage of time, the methods of combating viruses today are also limited, and in the case of influenza, symptomatic treatment is most often used.

There is a hypothesis that some Spanish flu patients died as a result of aspirin poisoning, which was administered to patients in large amounts during the epidemic. Currently, the maximum daily dose is 4 g, while during epidemics, patients were administered up to 30 g of the drug per day. As it turns out, an overdose of aspirin can cause symptoms such as bleeding, which are also one of the symptoms of Spanish. The hypothesis has still not been confirmed, however, as the mortality rate of Spanish women was similar also in areas where aspirin was not an easily available drug.

Read: Is COVID-19 disease X?

World War Pandemic

Information on the Spanish pandemic was limited during the war. Censorship was supposed to prevent panic, and to present the situation in a better light, so as not to encourage opponents on the other side of the conflict to intensify their activities at the front. Nevertheless, at the most difficult moment of the epidemic, efforts were made to implement measures to limit the spread of the epidemic, incl put the sick in quarantine.

Although the Spanish woman is one of the greatest pandemics in history, it did not affect the outcome of the war. It can be said, however, that the war influenced the course of the epidemic, limiting the availability of food and resources necessary to care for the sick, as well as contributing to the spread of the disease by soldiers returning from the front.

Read: From the wedding straight to the sanitary facility. These may be the most dangerous outbreaks of the epidemic in Poland

Epidemics have always accompanied mankind

Just on the basis of a handful of the above information, you can see that It is difficult to compare the Spanish flu virus to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus – these are strains of completely different viruses, attack other age groups and differ in mortality among patients. They also appeared at completely different times, especially in terms of medical knowledge, the possibility of developing vaccinations and medications, as well as the implementation of preventive measures. Nowadays, thanks to antibiotics, we can also deal with bacterial complications much better.

Epidemics have been affecting humanity on a smaller or larger scale for centuries. Avian and swine flu has been high in recent years, along with MERS, SARS and the Ebola epidemic. The next big challenge was the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The main weapon in the fight against the COVID-19 disease it causes is currently based on the various measures employed by public health organizations and services around the world.

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