The History of the Flu

The flu is a common illness that many of us have come down with at least once or twice. It's a type of respiratory virus which can be very troublesome, and it may even result in death when someone with a compromised immune system comes with it. Also, when particularly deadly strains of the virus spread amongst humanity, it can be a serious health risk for the entire world. In this article, we'll take a look at how the flu has affected the course of human civilization within the last century.

1918 marked the appearance of a pandemic case of influenza which was known as the "Spanish Flu". This type of influenza spread throughout the world quickly and caused many deaths. The main reason that the illness spread so swiftly is likely due to the fact that World War I was underway and troops were moving from country to country at a quick pace. In the United States, approximately 500,000 people died at the hands of the Spanish flu. Worldwide, the death toll was somewhere between twenty and fifty million people. One of the few countries that weren't vastly affected by the Spanish Flu was Japan, since their leaders realized the threat that the flu presented and responded accordingly. They essentially locked off their island from the world, restricting travel and successfully heading off the flu, which died out after about 18 months.

1957 was the next year that a global pandemic of influenza would strike. This strain was known as the Asian flu, due to the fact that it began infecting people in China first. When all was said and done, over 70,000 United States citizens were dead from the illness. One frightening aspect of the Asian flu is the fact that those who are under age thirty in the United States have no developed immunities to the strain.

Another pandemic would occur ten years later, when the Hong Kong flu was discovered in, of all places, Hong Kong. 1968 and 1969 were the two years in which the illness circulated, and it caused around 34,000 deaths in the United States. This strain of influenza is still circulating in the world today.

The Russian flu came about in 1977, and it closely mirrored the strain that caused the Asian flu. Due to the circumstances, those who were alive when the Asian flu circulated had some level of immunity against this strain. However, those who were too young to have been alive when the Asian flu circulated were at a high risk for developing the illness.

In the year 1997, the newest threat to humanity from influenza was discovered. Known as H5N1, or the Avian flu, this strain of influenza may well prove to be the next pandemic that we face. In this year, the flu was discovered to have been transferred between a bird and a human. If the virus learns how to transmit itself from human to human, the conditions for a pandemic will be set. We can only hope that we discover a way to contain this deadly infection.