Was the flu pandemic of 1918 the worst pandemic ever?

Answer 1

Update, Current situation :

It was. "Pandemic" means spread around the entire world ("pan" means ALL). Swine Flu was a true pandemic and reached every country in the world before it was over.

The World Health Organization's Director-General, Margaret Chan, announced on August 10, 2010 that the Pandemic Phase was over and we entered the Post Pandemic Phase.

A pandemic is a disease that spreads over a wide geographic area, affecting a large proportion of the population.

Swine Flu has reached geographic regions globally due to the ease and frequency of Global traveling. It met the criteria of a pandemic due to the spread to all continents of the world. The Pandemic Phase does not indicate an increase in severity of the disease, it indicates the total global spread, which does cause an increase in total numbers of cases and transmissions world wide.

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World Health Organization raises Pandemic Level to Phase 6 - Pandemic Phase.From WHO news conference 11 June 2009:

"On the basis of available evidence and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from Phase 5 to Phase 6. The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic."

The transcripts of the Press Conference can be read or videos watched at the WHO site link below in related links section.

It is important to note that this does not indicate an increase in the severity, just that the criteria for Phase 6 regarding the spread of the Novel H1N1 Influenza have been met. This puts in to place additional steps by WHO and Nations' plans for control and prevention in such a widespread situation of pandemic.

Answer 2

Absolutely not. The swine flu is nowhere near the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918, or the SARS scare in the early 2000's. And let's not forget about the Bubonic Plague, which killed millions in the middle ages over in Europe and Asia. ---- Current situation - World Health Organization raises Pandemic Level to Level 6. From WHO news conference 11 June 2009: "On the basis of available evidence and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from Phase 5 to Phase 6.

The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic." The transcripts of the Press Conference can be read or videos watched at the WHO site: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/influenzaAH1N1_presstranscript_20090611.pdf It is important to note that this does not indicate an increase in the severity, just that the criteria for Phase 6 regarding the spread of the Novel H1N1 Influenza have been met. This puts in to place additional steps by WHO and Nations' plans for control and prevention in such a widespread situation of pandemic.

Answer 3

It has been characterized this way because millions of people world-wide died of the "Spanish Flu" during that pandemic. There may have been other epidemics of communicable diseases during other periods of history that were as deadly or more, but due to the lack of frequent and rapid international travel at those times, they were mostly limited in geographical scope, unlike the 1918 flu which was spread world-wide (hence: Pandemic -- "pan" means "all") during WW1.