What is the flu? The flu is a disease that attacks your respiratory system. It is highly contagious and can spread through the air. If a person touches an object with the germ on it and then TO he's anywhere on their face, they can easily become infected.
Influenza, more commonly known as the flu, was a very popular sickness during world war 1. It killed between 20-40 million people.
Some symptoms of the flu are dry coughing, nasal congestion, runny noses, sneezing, headaches, nausea, sore throats, pain in the muscles, chills, fevers, dehydration and many more.
Why was it so popular during World War 1?
Many believe that it originated from trench warfare, there was lots of germs going round in trenches. Also the use of mustard gases were harming to humans. Smoke and fumes also could have caused the flu outbreaks around the world. It started in China and spread around the world. It most likely came to the U.S through ports. Men from all over that joined the military brought the disease with them. Many people at one point had gathered together to celebrate Armistice Day and those who had the flu still went to celebrate and it spread quickly through the crowds of people.
Soldiers had come home from battle with wounds and burns. Hospitals became overflowed with injured soldiers. There were many more sick and injured soldiers than the number of nurses available. Some sick people couldn't be treated because of lack of nurses, so they stayed sick and gave others their disease.
A group of three genes enabled the virus to weaken a victims bronchial tubes and lungs and clear the way for bacterial pneumonia.
The first wave of the 1918 of influenza occurred in the spring and was mild. The sick, who experienced typical symptoms recovered after a few days. The number of reported death was low at the beginning of world war 1. A second wave of influenza appeared in the fall of that same year. Victims died within hours of their symptoms occurring.
By the summer of 1919, the flu had come to an end. Those who were infected either passed away or became immune to it.
After just one year, the average life expectancy went down by a few years.