The spanish flu virus

Department of the Navy: Precautions Against Influenza. Traffic "cop" in New York City wearing gauze mask. New York City "conductorettes" wearing masks. Letter carrier in New York City wearing mask. To prevent the spread of Spanish Influenza, Cincinnati barbers are wearing masks. Nurses make bandages for flu epidemic stock newsreel footage from CBS.

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Recommended for you. How the Union Defended Washington, D. During the Civil War. What a virus wants to do is infect a host and be contagious so it can infect another host and it can continue to spread. As part of this process, respiratory viruses often mutate and become less virulent and therefore less of a serious health issue. We have significantly more data about the COVID pandemic than we do about the influenza pandemic.

We also have more tools to combat the coronavirus than people did back in including data about who is most at risk from COVID along with vaccines and therapeutics. With new variants come new questions about where the pandemic is headed, and whether or not we will need annual boosters or modified vaccines. Historically, most pandemics end within 2 to 3 years as the virus mutates into a less virulent pathogen and the population builds up immunity.

This is what happened to the influenza strain behind the flu pandemic, and what many virologists hope will happen with the coronavirus — whether that happens with Omicron, a variant that appears to cause milder infections, or another future variant is unknown.

The Healthline News team is committed to delivering content that adheres to the highest editorial standards for accuracy, sourcing, and objective analysis. Every news article is thoroughly fact-checked by members of our Integrity Network. Furthermore, we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding any level of plagiarism or malicious intent from our writers and contributors. A devastating second wave of the Spanish Flu hit American shores in the summer of , as returning soldiers infected with the disease spread it to the general population—especially in densely-crowded cities.

Without a vaccine or approved treatment plan, it fell to local mayors and healthy officials to improvise plans to safeguard the safety of their citizens. So on September 28, the city went forward with a Liberty Loan parade attended by tens of thousands of Philadelphians, spreading the disease like wildfire.

In just 10 days, over 1, Philadelphians were dead, with another , sick. Only then did the city close saloons and theaters. By March , over 15, citizens of Philadelphia had lost their lives. Louis, Missouri, was different: Schools and movie theaters closed and public gatherings were banned. Consequently, the peak mortality rate in St. By the summer of , the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.

Since , there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly. A flu pandemic from to killed around 2 million people worldwide, including some 70, people in the United States, and a pandemic from to killed approximately 1 million people, including some 34, Americans.

The novel coronavirus pandemic of is spreading around the world as countries race to find a cure for COVID and citizens shelter in place in an attempt to avoid spreading the disease. Clinical Infectious Diseases. The New York Times. Smithsonian Magazine. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.

Carried by World War I doughboys returning home from Europe, the newly virulent virus spread first from Boston to New York and Philadelphia before traveling West to infect The horrific scale of the influenza pandemic—known as the "Spanish flu"—is hard to fathom. The virus infected and killed at least 50 million worldwide, according to the CDC. While the The influenza pandemic of and was the most deadly flu outbreak in history, killing up to 50 million people worldwide.

In the United States, where it ultimately killed around , people, local governments rolled out initiatives to try to stop its spread.