Dr. Kirsty Duncan, a 34-year old, Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, and formerly Associate Professor at the University of Windsor, completed a degree specializing in geography and anthropology with a minor in psychology, in 1989. She graduated with distinction and went on to complete her doctoral degree in geography at he University of Edinburgh in 1992. She has taught meterorology, climatology, and climate change, and teaches medical geography at the University of Toronto. Kirsty Duncan lives in Toronto, where she trains for marathons in her spare time.
- Read a review of Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus
The Spanish Influenza of 1918
The guns fell silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. One in ten of those soldiers who had fought in Europe died in the service of his country; an even greater number were wounded in deadly trench warfare. The final cost of the war will never be known.
However, estimates of 12 million people dead, 7 million of them soldiers, are almost certainly too low. A total of 3 million people may have died in Russia alone, rather than the usual estimates of 1.7 million there. 1-6The war to end all wars was over.
'In one wonderful and joyous explosion, the world went mad.' In most countries, shops closed; throngs of boisterous, jubilant people celebrated in streets; whistles blew, and bands played hit songs such as 'World Peace' — 'From now on, there'll be peace, / They'll wage no war again.' And exhilarated and intoxicated crowds set off fireworks, ignited bonfires, and revelled late into the night. In London, King George V and Queen Mary greeted the crowds from the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The King spoke gratefully, 'With you, I rejoice. Thank God for the victories the Allied armies have won, which have brought hostilities to an end. Peace is in sight.'
Three Waves of Influenza
As the world's peoples were celebrating the end of war, the end of dying, and a fresh beginning, the second and most virulent of three waves of a new killer, 'Spanish influenza,' raged with a ferocity greater than all the killing power of the previous four years of war, killing tens of millions.
The Spanish Influenza of 1918
Although Spanish flu was new, influenza as such was not. The name 'influenza,' derived from the Italian word for 'influence,' had been used to describe disease beginning in the Middle Ages, when it was believed that illness came from the influence of the stars. The highly contagious, acute respiratory illness known as influenza, however, appears to have afflicted humans since ancient times; Hippocrates recorded one such epidemic in 462 BC. Pandemics of influenza were not new either. They raged in 1732—3, 1775, 1782, 1833, 1836—7, 1847—8, and 1889—90.
The pandemic in 1889—90 infected 40 per cent of the world's population, and thousands died. 9 Yet the first wave of Spanish influenza had largely gone unnoticed in the spring and summer of 1918. In fact, the spring wave of the disease did not even receive mention in the index of the 1918 volume of the Journal of the American Medical Association.10 The disease had been mild, the mortality was not unusually high, and the world had been preoccupied with a fifth year of war.8,10 However, influenza was brewing quietly, with localized outbreaks in U.S. military camps in early 1918.
On 11 March, 107 American servicemen became ill at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas. By the end of the five-week training camp, 1,127 had been stricken, and 46 had died of pneumonia following the flu. Camps Doniphan, Fremont, Gordon, Grant, Hancock, Lewis, Logan, Kearney, McClellan, Oglethorpe, and others also reported epidemics in March and April.10
By April the disease had spread to France — perhaps carried there by American troops.8 And by the end of April, influenza had reached Spain, where the disease was widely publicized. Neutral Spain had no censorship of its press, unlike countries at war.
Spain made the first public announcement of the disease. Madrid cabled London: 'A strange form of disease of epidemic character has appeared in Madrid.' 7,8
By May it had reached Greece, Macedonia, Egypt, and Britain. In England, 10,313 sailors of the Royal Navy developed flu and were unable to leave port. And the Royal College of Physicians labelled the disease 'Spanish influenza,'7,8 and the inaccurate name stuck in history.
