The forgotten epidemic of the ” flu”. The symptoms are very similar to COVID-19

The so-called the flu that took over the world in the late nineteenth century may not have been flu at all, but a disease caused by one of the coronaviruses that causes colds today. Humanity may become resistant to SARS-CoV2 over time.

1. In the years 1889-94, the influenza pandemic started in Uzbekistan was spreading around the world. As today, schools and factories were closed, and transport was limited
2. Treatment methods were not only ineffective, but also dangerous and sometimes fun. Patients were served brandy, among others
3. Many of the symptoms resembled those of COVID-19
4. Scientists have read the genome of the coronavirus, which may be a candidate for the pandemic at that time
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

“I don’t remember ever feeling so weak, even after malaria in Genoa. I am so weakened that when I read for half an hour, I get so tired that I pass out and have to lie down ”- in January 1892, the famous English social reformer Josephine Butler wrote in a letter to her son. Prominent British fell victim to the so-called flu, which caused a worldwide epidemic in 1889-94. Some scientists today argue that it was not the flu at all, but a disease caused by one of the coronaviruses.

1. The two main symptoms that distinguish COVID-19 from the flu

Rapid expansion

The first recorded disease occurred in the city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, in the spring. In the fall, the disease has already reached Moscow. Everyone was sick – from the poorest to the tsar. One-third of the hospital beds were occupied by new flu patients. From St. Petersburg, the disease spread to Stockholm and the rest of Sweden, where the virus infected 60 percent of the disease. residents. Its victims were then other Scandinavian countries, and then the rest of Europe. Mainly cities suffered, initially mainly capitals – Paris, Vienna, London, Madrid and Rome were in the flames of the epidemic. Then the disease spread around the Mediterranean Sea as far as Egypt.

Railway lines made it possible to expand quickly. However, the pandemic also crossed the ocean – in December 1989, it appeared in the United States, and after controlling them, it spread to Mexico and South America. In the spring of the following year, it also moved to Asia and Africa.

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Lockdown, chinina i Brandy

Wherever it appeared, the authorities often introduced something akin to today’s lockdown. Factories, universities, schools and even barracks were closed. Transportation and other public services, as well as gatherings, were restricted. Like today, disinfection and isolation were used, although some still believed in the miasmatic theory of disease (they were supposed to be caused by impure air).

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Quinine was used to treat the fever – without success. Some even used such dangerous substances and methods as strychnine or phenol inhalations. The amusement today can be caused by the use of castor oil, Brandy or oysters. The mortality rate was similar to that of the Hong Kong or Asian flu. The epidemic can therefore be considered relatively mild – for example, a Spanish woman killed 50 million people. However, around the world, the flu has killed around one million people.

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Symptoms similar to COVID-19

Historians have records of the symptoms well described by the doctors of the time. Many of the symptoms are more like COVID-19 than the flu, some experts note. They include researchers from the Catholic University of Lowlands – authors of the study published in the journal Microbial Biotechnology.

They mention, among others little impact of the epidemic on the health of adolescents – infected people usually only experienced headache and tearing and redness of the face. The children were also relatively safe. However, the pandemic posed a particular threat to the elderly and to people with heart, lung, brain disease and diabetes. Mysterious olfactory disturbances were not uncommon. Men were more at risk than women.

After the disease passed, the convalescents suffered from persistent symptoms such as severe physical and mental weakness, dizziness, and heart problems for a long time. Re-infections also appeared. Surviving an earlier flu epidemic offered no protection. Moreover, the epidemic waves did not match the typical seasonality of influenza. This includes which is why some scientists suspect that there is some coronavirus behind the flu.

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Suspicious germ

Another argument comes from genetics. In 2005, a Belgian scientist, prof. Marc Van Ranst read the complete genome of the HCoV-OC43 coronavirus, which has long circulated in the human population, causing colds. The researcher showed that this pathogen is genetically almost the same as another coronavirus that attacks cattle – BCoV. Meanwhile, the second half of the nineteenth century was a period of intense long-distance trade in live cattle, which developed thanks to the expansion of the railroads. This could make HCoV-OC43 a candidate for the germ responsible for the flu epidemic. Over time, mankind was to become resistant to it and today it does not pose a major threat. This hypothesis is supported by the cases of BCoV jump to humans, already observed in the times of modern medicine

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SARS-CoV2 should ease

Some experts, on the other hand, believe that the theses about the coronavirus in the flu are highly speculative. Prof. Van Rans admits that a sample of biological material would be needed to confirm them. Theoretically, there may be human remains of sick people preserved in permafrost, but the researcher sees little chance of finding them. However, in the Horizon website run by the European Commission, he stated that looking only at the current situation, even without referring to history, one can expect more and more resistance to SARS-CoV2. Contact with it may become quite frequent in childhood without developing symptoms of the disease, the specialist believes. In this way, the germ that causes COVID-19 is to join other coronaviruses that cause relatively harmless colds. In his opinion, these viruses also probably caused local epidemics centuries ago.

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