So Now You Know

At its worst, the bubonic plague killed 2 million victims a year for a total of over 137 million people (there were three major epidemics - in the 6th, 14th, and 17th centuries).

In contrast, a 20th Century influenza pandemic raced across the globe in 1918 and took 37 million lives in one year.

• The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years
• Those lucky enough to avoid infection had to deal with the public health ordinances to restrain the spread of the disease. The public health departments distributed gauze masks to be worn in public.
• Stores could not hold sales, funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns required a signed certificate to enter and railroads would not accept passengers without them.
• Besides the lack of health care workers and medical supplies, there was a shortage of coffins, morticians and gravediggers
• In Philadelphia, 158 out of every 1000 people died. 148 out of 1000 in Baltimore. 109 out of 1000 in Washington, D. C.
• Eighteen months after the disease appeared, the flu bug vanished and has never shown up again.
• It appears the virus passed from birds to pigs and then to humans. The viruses tend to remain stable in the birds, but occassionally they infect pigs and the virus is forced to mutate to survive. Both the Asian flu (1957) and the Hong Kong flu (1968), which were not as deadly, mutated from pig viruses.