The disease was named the "swine flu" because the virus that causes it is similar to one found in pigs (not because the virus came from pigs).By the summer of 1918, the virus was quickly spreading to other countries in mainland Europe. “That really freaked out the medical establishment, that there was this atypical spike in the middle of the W,” says Harris.In late August 1918, military ships departed the English port city of Plymouth carrying troops unknowingly infected with this new, far deadlier strain of Spanish flu. Schools and other buildings became makeshift hospitals, and medical students had to take the place of doctors in some instances.Nancy Bristow's book "American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic" (Oxford University Press, 2016) explains that the virus affected as many as 500 million people around the world. Unbelievable Facts, which brands itself as “your source for the best bizarre, strange and extraordinary stories on the internet,” has more than 8.3 million followers on Facebook. Vienna and Budapest, Hungary, were suffering, and parts of Germany and France were similarly affected. By September, the flu had reached the U.S. through Boston harbor.Reference article: Facts about the Spanish flu.Even in late Spring 1918, a Spanish news service sent word to Reuters' London office informing the news agency that "a strange form of disease of epidemic character has appeared in Madrid.
By the time the laborers arrived in northern France in early 1918, many were sick, and hundreds were soon dying.The most recent comparable flu pandemic occurred in 2009 to 2010, after a new form of the H1N1 influenza strain appeared. Throughout April and May of 1918, the virus spread like wildfire through England, France, Spain and Italy. It is believed to have started as a zoonotic jump near Fort Riley, Kansas USA. As these ships arrived in cities like Brest in France, Boston in the United States and Freetown in west Africa, the second wave of the global pandemic began.British military doctors conducting autopsies on soldiers killed by this second wave of the Spanish flu described the heavy damage to the lungs as akin to the effects of chemical warfare.Harris believes that the rapid spread of Spanish flu in the fall of 1918 was at least partially to blame on public health officials unwilling to impose quarantines during wartime. But yet the pandemic was called ‘Spanish Flu’ – again, a result of the war. In July, the epidemic was hitting the London textile trade hard, with one factory having 80 out of 400 workers go home sick in one evening alone, according to "The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: New Perspectives" (Routledge, 2003).
The advert stated that the mints were the "best means of preventing the infective processes" and that everyone, including children, should suck four or five of these tablets a day until they felt better.The Spanish flu remains the most deadly flu pandemic to date by a long shot, having killed an estimated 1% to 3% of the world's population.Stay up to date on the coronavirus outbreak by signing up to our newsletter today.During the summer of 1918, as troops began to return home on leave, they brought with them the undetected virus that had made them ill.