19. Where did Spanish Flu come from?
The origins of Spanish Flu remain debated among medical professionals, scientists, epidemiologists, historians, and others. Some postulate that the virus originated in birds and hogs, was transmitted to humans, and then transferred around the world. A leading theory for years was that the epicenter for the virus was Fort Riley, Kansas, among the animals bred to feed American troops. Others postulate that the virus originated in birds as a type of avian flu and transferred directly to humans, with humans passing the virus on to swine. Still, others suggest that the virus originated in China, supporting the belief that it was passed to the troops in the trenches of Europe by Chinese laborers brought to the battlefront to build infrastructure.
In the 21st century efforts to understand how the virus developed, what caused it to mutate into the deadlier virus of the second wave, and how it spread, continue to produce often conflicting theories. The fact is though efforts to understand what the virus was continuing, a definitive answer remains elusive. The pandemic which killed so many people that it was compared to the Black Death of the Middle Ages – and may well have killed a greater percentage of the population of Europe than its predecessor – remains a mystery, even as its history becomes more widely known.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“The Plague of the Spanish Lady – The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 – 1919”. R. Collier. 1974
“A History of Influenza”. C. W. Potter, Journal of Applied Microbiology. October, 2001
“The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History”. John M. Barry. 2005
“America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918”. Alfred W. Crosby. 2003
“History of 1918 Flu Pandemic. Article, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Online
“The Great Pandemic”. Article, Historians.org. AHA Staff. May 4, 2009. Online
“A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America, 1918-1920”. D. Pettit & Janice Bailie. 2008
“Ten Famous People Who Survived the 1918 Flu”. David A. Lovett, Smithsonian.com. October 24, 2017
“The legacy of the Spanish Flu”. Suzanne Shablovsky, Science Magazine. September 22, 2017. Online