What was Spanish Influenza?

Answer 1

The symptoms of the "Spanish flu" were very similar to the symptoms of all strains of influenza viruses. It would start out with upper respiratory symptoms like runny and stuffy nose, cough, and sneezing. Then muscle and joint aches and fever would usually begin, with fevers often very high, in the area of 104 degrees F., and with marked fatigue. Sometimes, that was the extent of the symptoms, ending in around a week's time. But for many, the respiratory symptoms would progress to pneumonia and the body would increase the defenses, often to the point of a "cytokine storm", which was usually fatal.

A cytokine storm is thought to have been the cause of many, if not most, of the 1918 Pandemic deaths from Spanish Flu. It is an over-reaction of the immune system. With a respiratory infection, that causes the body to send massive amounts of fluids, to flush the infection out, along with immune cells. These fluids and cells move to the lungs so quickly they can accumulate and close off the airways. Respiratory failure and death can result, and did, especially among young and healthy infected individuals who had strong immune systems that could make overly strong responses.

The "Spanish Flu" is what the pandemic influenza from 1918 has been called because the reports of the flu that many people first heard originated in Spain, so many people assumed that was also the origin of the flu. However, it probably started in other locations, but due to WWI, the news did not get out about it until cases were reported in the still operational newspapers of Spain.

Answer 2

The symptoms of the "Spanish flu" were very similar to the symptoms of all strains of influenza viruses. It would start out with upper respiratory symptoms like runny and stuffy nose, cough, and sneezing. Then muscle and joint aches and fever would usually begin, with fevers often very high, in the area of 104 degrees F., and with marked fatigue. Sometimes, that was the extent of the symptoms, ending in around a week's time. But for many, the respiratory symptoms would progress to pneumonia and the body would increase the defenses, often to the point of a "cytokine storm", which was usually fatal.

A cytokine storm is thought to have been the cause of many, if not most, of the 1918 Pandemic deaths from Spanish Flu. It is an over-reaction of the immune system. With a respiratory infection, that causes the body to send massive amounts of fluids, to flush the infection out, along with immune cells. These fluids and cells move to the lungs so quickly they can accumulate and close off the airways. Respiratory failure and death can result, and did, especially among young and healthy infected individuals who had strong immune systems that could make overly strong responses.

The "Spanish Flu" is what the pandemic influenza from 1918 has been called because the reports of the flu that many people first heard originated in Spain, so many people assumed that was also the origin of the flu. However, it probably started in other locations, but due to WWI, the news did not get out about it until cases were reported in the still operational newspapers of Spain.

Answer 3

Spanish FluThis is a rather a old strain with its first appearance in 1918. In two years, over 30 million people died from Spanish Flu. Many of the soldiers returning from Europe to North America brought the virus with them. In 1920 in New York City over 500 people a day were dying of it. There was no cure, it had to run its course. Such a world-wide illness is called a PANDEMIC.

Answer 4

Spanish influenza was the flu that spread through America and became a pandemic in 1918. It killed scores of people world wide. It is believed today that it did originate in the US and the soldiers in WW1 got it at home and took it with them as they moved from place to place during the war.

It was called Spanish flu because people incorrectly thought it began in Spain. During WW1 there was less international news coming out and most of that was being censored due to the war. Spain was neutral in that war so the first mention of it that was widely reported came from Spanish newspapers which were still uncensored and coming out regularly at the time.

Answer 5

The Spanish Flu was also called the 1918 Flu, the 1918 Flu Pandemic, La Grippe Espagnole, and La Pesadilla. The French called it the German Flu and the Germans called it the French Flu. (It actually is thought to have originated in the US).

Answer 6

1918-1919. The version of H1N1 influenza (the first mutation that was avian flu-like) that came to be called by some the Spanish flu, was first identified as a new severe form of the flu in 1918. Viruses were an unknown pathogen at the time, so the cause of flu illnesses in that period of time was initially unknown. The illness spread far and worldwide and became a true pandemic in which tens of millions of people died around the world. The pandemic seemed to stop in 1919 and that is the end date that is cited most often.

Some virologists have said that the 1918 H1N1 pandemic of the Spanish Flu has really never stopped and is still underway, since current pandemic influenza viruses are all thought to have derived from that 1918 new strain.

"All human-adapted influenza A viruses of today-both seasonal variations and those that caused more dramatic pandemics-are descendants, direct or indirect, of that founding virus," notes Dr. Taubenberger, Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He continued, "Thus we can be said to be living in a pandemic era that began in 1918."

All flu pandemics have been caused by Influenza A viruses since then.

Time lines in the US (where some believe it began from the mutated virus and spread with military personnel deploying in WW1) were:

March 11, 1918 Fort Riley, KS, USA - the first case is reported in military personnel at the Fort Riley Army base. By the end of that day there were 100 more who also fell ill.

October 1918 - the deadliest month in US history due to this pandemic flu virus. A total of 195,000 in the US died.

December 1918 - San Francisco is hard hit with 5000 new cases reported.

March 1919 - After having a plethora of cases in Seattle (some say from sailors moving in and out of the Naval Training station there), this was the first month without any flu deaths reported.

Answer 7

The influenza epidemic (or pandemic) of 1918 was the most deadly in history. It was believed to have broken out in Spain, so it is known as the Spanish flu.

Answer 8

A strain of flu virus.