The pandemic is estimated to have affected up to one billion people: more than half the world's population at the time.
Eyewitness: "I well remember my husband, who was custodian of the town hall at the time, coming home very depressed and telling me all about this awful flu epidemic that was spreading so fast. The patients had very high temperatures, and when they died the bodies turned black.."
The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.
Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus.
Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients.
The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 20 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe,more than double the number killed in World War I.
This extraordinary toll resulted from the extremely high illness rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms.
Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research.
Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims.
The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.
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