1918 Flu Pandemic
Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 5:23 pm
(9/5/2014)
With the Ebola panic rising, I've been thinking that I should take a look at the largest pandemic in modern times if not ever: the 1918 flu pandemic which "killed more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century." Around the world, 500 million people were infected, and 10-20% of them (50 million to 100 million) died from the virus. (This was 3-5% of the world's population.)
The dates given for this pandemic are January 1918 to December 1920, three years covered by three different Capsolars. It cannot be linked to one location, since it struck worldwide. The highest number of deaths occurred in October-December 1918, with smaller peaks in February-March 191 and in July 1918. After the late 1918 spike, new cases of the flu dropped off dramatically, possibly because the virus suddenly mutated to a nonlethal form. (The week ending October 16 is an especially high-mortality week.)
With the Ebola panic rising, I've been thinking that I should take a look at the largest pandemic in modern times if not ever: the 1918 flu pandemic which "killed more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century." Around the world, 500 million people were infected, and 10-20% of them (50 million to 100 million) died from the virus. (This was 3-5% of the world's population.)
The dates given for this pandemic are January 1918 to December 1920, three years covered by three different Capsolars. It cannot be linked to one location, since it struck worldwide. The highest number of deaths occurred in October-December 1918, with smaller peaks in February-March 191 and in July 1918. After the late 1918 spike, new cases of the flu dropped off dramatically, possibly because the virus suddenly mutated to a nonlethal form. (The week ending October 16 is an especially high-mortality week.)