Many people still remember this rhyme from their childhood although the terrible Influenza Pandemic of 1918 has otherwise been mostly forgotten.  This was no ordinary flu.  Usually influenza is a killer of the elderly and young children but this strain was exceptionally deadly for healthy young adults aged 20 to 40.  Soldiers crowded together aboard ships, trains and trucks hastened the spread of this virus to other countries during World War I.  People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths and it touched nearly every part of the globe.  The disease became known by various names such as the "Spanish Influenza" or the "Spanish Lady", "La Grippe", "purulent bronchitis", "sandfly fever" and "Blitz Katarrh".  Although it is impossible to know exactly how many people became ill and died from this epidemic, it is believed that throughout the world an estimated 2 billion people (20% of the population) were taken ill and between 20 and 40 million (about 1% of the population) died from it.  It was the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history as more people died of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic than from Black Death.  In America, an estimated 25 million became ill and it was the cause of death for an estimated 550,000-700,000 or about 2% of the population of the United States in 1918.

This strain of flu is reported to have first shown up on March 11, 1918 in Fort Riley, Kansas, the 20,000 acres where 26,000 men were housed and which fully encompassed Camp Funston.  The first victim fell ill before breakfast and by noon, 100 had visited the hospital complaining of fever, sore throat, and headache.  By the end of the week, 500 had come down sick.  The dangers of this disease were downplayed since peoples' attention was focused instead on winning the War which America had been fighting for about 11 months.  The virus was able to mutate and strengthen as large numbers of infected people were transported from place to place around the globe.  As the virus continued to spread, precautionary measures were not taken.  In March thousands of American "dough-boys" began to carry it across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.  In April and May, soldiers at camps Hancock, Lewis, Sherman, Fremont, and several others and over 500 inmates at San Quentin prison in California also came down with the ailment.  It quickly spread throughout Europe and after it reportedly sickened millions of Spaniards in May, commonly became known as the "Spanish Flu" or the "Spanish Lady" because Spain, not being involved in the Great War, did not censor their news.  By early summer, the flu had extended its reach to Russia, North Africa, and India.  This strain of influenza continued to spread across the Pacific Ocean to parts of China, Japan, the Philippines, and down to New Zealand.  By July, tens of thousands around the world had fallen ill and died.  By mid-summer of 1918, the highly contagious flu appeared to have died out but the worst was yet to come.

The second wave of this epidemic, which is recognized to have begun August 22, 1918 in Brest, France, was brought back into the United States by the War.  In September of 1918, soldiers at an army base near Boston suddenly began to die.  The cause of death was identified as influenza, but by then the virus had mutated and was far more lethal than the first wave had been.  As this disease made its way around the world for a second time, it did more serious damage to the respiratory tract and lungs.  Many of its victims had a cough which brought up blood-stained sputum and they turned so blue as they suffocated from the bloody liquid accumulating in their lungs that it was difficult to determine which race they belonged to.  As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves.  It was unlike any strain ever seen before and was the worst epidemic in American history.  October 1918 was the deadliest month in our nation's history as 195,000 Americans died of influenza.  In the fall of 1918, Spanish Influenza killed more Americans than the Great War in Europe.  The pandemic affected everyone.  With one-quarter of the U. S. and one-fifth of the world infected with the influenza, it was impossible to escape from the illness.  Bodies pilled up as the massive deaths of the epidemic ensued.  There was a shortage of coffins, morticians and gravediggers as well as health-care professionals and medical supplies.  Since no one really knew how to slow down the spread of the disease, how to prevent it from infecting more people nor how to cure those were were already sick, there seemed to be no end in sight.  Rumors began to fly that the Germans were responsible for the spread of the deadly influenza in America.  Fortunately, by late November, 1918, the Influenza pandemic appeared to be coming to an end on its own.

The third wave of influenza was more virulent than the first wave but milder than the second.  World War I ended on November 11, 1918 and the number of flu cases declined during the latter part of November 1918.  However, Americans believed the "war to end all wars" was finally a thing of the past and many people chose to ignore the public health rules and hugged, kissed, danced and partied together at celebrations held across the U.S.  As a result, the number of new flu cases began to rise again in December, peaking by the end of January 1919.  President Woodrow Wilson was among the victims to survive the influenza as it made its way around the nation the third time.

Sources

Aronson, Virginia.  The Influenza Pandemic of 1918.  Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, 2000.

PBS Website, www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/, for the Film "Influenza 1918".  Accessed August 21, 2005.

Stanford University website, www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/, The Influenza Pandemic of 1918.  Accessed August 21, 2005.