View Full Version : The Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918
Bonniegirl 04-21-2020, 12:03 AM Have you guys heard of this? It was a very bad pandemic from 1918 to 1920, similar to this Corona virus! It hit Philadelphia particularly hard , apparently a lot of people caught it at a parade that should have been canceled! I will copy and paste some info about the Spanish flu , but I am not good at posting links , so if anyone wants to add to it, please do! Talking to my Dad about this being we are from Philly , he wasn't born yet , not till 1929 , but as far as he knows nobody in our family before that had died from it thank God ! ;) It hit other areas of course besides Philadelphia, it started in Europe, so you might want to ask some of your older relatives about this! ;)
The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at the time.[2] The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.[3]
Foggy 04-21-2020, 12:34 PM President Trump has been speaking about this almost from the beginning...
Here is a list of a few links for your reading pleasure :):
CDC
1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus)
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
WIKIPEDIA
Spanish flu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
STANFORD
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
HISTORY
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic
WEBMD
Four Lessons From the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200420/four-lessons-from-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic#1
BIOSPACE
Compare: 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic Versus COVID-19
https://www.biospace.com/article/compare-1918-spanish-influenza-pandemic-versus-covid-19/
In the cemetery where my relatives are buried there a quite a few people with death dates during that time period 1918-1920. I don't know how many died from the Spanish Flu though. Some of the graves are from before the Civil War. It's interesting to read all the grave stones.
Bonniegirl 04-21-2020, 06:58 PM President Trump has been speaking about this almost from the beginning...
Here is a list of a few links for your reading pleasure :):
CDC
1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus)
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
WIKIPEDIA
Spanish flu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
STANFORD
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
HISTORY
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic
WEBMD
Four Lessons From the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200420/four-lessons-from-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic#1
BIOSPACE
Compare: 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic Versus COVID-19
https://www.biospace.com/article/compare-1918-spanish-influenza-pandemic-versus-covid-19/
Thank you for the links Foggy !! ;):wave:
Bonniegirl 04-21-2020, 07:06 PM In the cemetery where my relatives are buried there a quite a few people with death dates during that time period 1918-1920. I don't know how many died from the Spanish Flu though. Some of the graves are from before the Civil War. It's interesting to read all the grave stones.
That is interesting that so many of the dates on the headstones were in that time period. Maybe it was from that pandemic ! I'm like that too, when I go to a cemetery I am really fascinated when I see really old graves ! ;)Thank you for responding to my post AB, I was starting to think nobody had any interest in it ! :confused:
So strange how the Spanish flu pandemic ended exactly 100 years before this one started! :eek: For back than without modern medicine, lasting 2 years, chances are this one will be over much more quickly !! ;)
Penny Lane 04-22-2020, 03:59 PM In the cemetery where my relatives are buried there a quite a few people with death dates during that time period 1918-1920. I don't know how many died from the Spanish Flu though. Some of the graves are from before the Civil War. It's interesting to read all the grave stones.
In the cemetery in my home town there is a family plot with an entire family both young and old all who died the same year. 1918. I always assumed it was due to that Spanish Flu. It's such a sad reminder. :(
That is interesting that so many of the dates on the headstones were in that time period. Maybe it was from that pandemic ! I'm like that too, when I go to a cemetery I am really fascinated when I see really old graves ! ;)Thank you for responding to my post AB, I was starting to think nobody had any interest in it ! :confused:
So strange how the Spanish flu pandemic ended exactly 100 years before this one started! :eek: For back than without modern medicine, lasting 2 years, chances are this one will be over much more quickly !! ;)
I imagine many of the people who caught it back then, didn't even know what it was, especially those in rural areas. It's not like today when you're reminded of it constantly with back to back news coverage.
That is uncanny about the 100 years between the epidemics.
In the cemetery in my home town there is a family plot with an entire family both young and old all who died the same year. 1918. I always assumed it was due to that Spanish Flu. It's such a sad reminder. :(
Yeah when you see so many people who died in certain time periods you wonder just what happened to them. You don't know if it was due to war, an epidemic or some other catastrophe.
Came across this today. Betty White’s husband Allen Ludden had his father die from the Spanish Flu in early 1919 at age 26 (Allen was 1)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Ludden
Bonniegirl 04-23-2020, 07:03 PM In the cemetery in my home town there is a family plot with an entire family both young and old all who died the same year. 1918. I always assumed it was due to that Spanish Flu. It's such a sad reminder. :(
Oh wow!! God bless them ! That is really sad ! :( I know they all have a place in heaven though ! I'm thinking people who are dying of the Corona virus now might be meeting with those who passed away from the Spanish flu spiritually in the after life! ;)
I hope that didn't come off sounding weird or silly, I really didn't mean for it too! I meant maybe they are bonding in heaven over a similar tragic circumstance and now they are in eternal peace ! :)
Bonniegirl 04-23-2020, 07:06 PM I imagine many of the people who caught it back then, didn't even know what it was, especially those in rural areas. It's not like today when you're reminded of it constantly with back to back news coverage.
That is uncanny about the 100 years between the epidemics.
That is a good point! Maybe some people really didn't know what was happening, why they were getting that sick and dying !! :confused::(
Bonniegirl 04-23-2020, 07:08 PM Came across this today. Betty White’s husband Allen Ludden had his father die from the Spanish Flu in early 1919 at age 26 (Allen was 1)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Ludden
OMG ! Wow, that is really something ! Interesting find Opus ! Very sad for Mrs.Ludden becoming a widow that young with a one year old child and maybe more children ?! :(
MrCleveland 04-23-2020, 08:49 PM I feel that the Coronavirus may be deadlier than The Spain Flu...I'm surprised that parades and events weren't on hiatus in 1919...unlike this year...
OH Nuts! 04-23-2020, 11:28 PM Oh wow!! God bless them ! That is really sad ! :( I know they all have a place in heaven though ! I'm thinking people who are dying of the Corona virus now might be meeting with those who passed away from the Spanish flu spiritually in the after life! ;)
I hope that didn't come off sounding weird or silly, I really didn't mean for it too! I meant maybe they are bonding in heaven over a similar tragic circumstance and now they are in eternal peace ! :)
Not silly at all! We have no way of knowing what “happens” after we die and this is certainly plausible.
Bonniegirl 04-24-2020, 02:28 PM Not silly at all! We have no way of knowing what “happens” after we die and this is certainly plausible.
There was a movie called "The lovely bones" from 2009, that went with that theory ! Little girls who had been murdered that didn't know each other on earth bonded in heaven! ;) It was a really cool, eerie movie !! ;)
Bonniegirl 04-24-2020, 02:32 PM I feel that the Coronavirus may be deadlier than The Spain Flu...I'm surprised that parades and events weren't on hiatus in 1919...unlike this year...
The parade was before they knew what was going on! Apparently it was for servicemen returning from WW1 ! They surmise that it was them who brought it over from Europe ! :(
JamesG 04-26-2020, 01:05 AM I did a paper on the Spanish Flu for college. There are some major differences between this pandemic and that one.
One thing is that there were no asymptomatic people with the Spanish Flu. Everyone sick showed various symptoms of being ill.
Another difference is that the Spanish Flu seemed to affect people in their prime (aged 20-40) the most. The young and the elderly did not catch it as much.
Janice 04-26-2020, 02:53 AM Donald Trump's grandfather died as a result of the Spanish Flu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump
Bonnie, I love the movie, The Lovely Bones. Just watched it last week for the third time. It's so sad. Mark Walhberg is terrific in it.
Coffeecup 04-26-2020, 10:04 PM My mom was born in May of 1918 and my aunt in 1917 and I wonder how her mom and dad felt about their 2 daughters. My grandparents were coming out of WW1 at that time. The time seems so far away- another life time ago.
Bonniegirl 04-27-2020, 12:38 AM I did a paper on the Spanish Flu for college. There are some major differences between this pandemic and that one.
One thing is that there were no asymptomatic people with the Spanish Flu. Everyone sick showed various symptoms of being ill.
Another difference is that the Spanish Flu seemed to affect people in their prime (aged 20-40) the most. The young and the elderly did not catch it as much.
Yeah, my Sister and I were talking about this the other day ! She was the one telling me about how it was hitting people in that age group! I hadn't known that before! :confused:
Really strange ! Esp. In those days when illnesses usually really hit babies and children hard ! The infant mortality rate was so high in the old days ! :( And older people , even if they lived to be 70 a hundred years ago was really amazing , let alone with a pandemic going on ! I wonder what made it the age group 20 -40 who mainly got it ?? :confused:
Bonniegirl 04-27-2020, 12:44 AM Donald Trump's grandfather died as a result of the Spanish Flu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump
Bonnie, I love the movie, The Lovely Bones. Just watched it last week for the third time. It's so sad. Mark Walhberg is terrific in it.
Oh wow! I am sorry about President Trump's Grandfather! Even though I am not a Trump supporter , it is really sad that his Grandfather succumbed to this terrible pandemic ! :(
Yeah, the Lovely Bones was a really good intense movie! ;)
|