by Dr. Kaylene Armstrong, Assistant Professor of the Mass Communications Program
The COVID-19 virus racing across the country right now is certainly not the first pandemic the United States has faced.
A handful of centenarians who were small children at the time may remember the 1918 flu that killed at least 50 million worldwide and about 675,000 in the U.S., according the Center of Disease Control’s history of past pandemics. No one knows where it started.
While the current virus is most dangerous for older adults and individuals with compromised immune systems, the 1918-19 flu seemed to kill in every age group, even healthy people 20-40 years old. Of course, you have to remember that no vaccines were available then and neither were antibiotics that today treat the pneumonia that sometimes comes with the flu.
That flu in 1918 came in three waves: spring 1918, with the first outbreaks at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas; fall 1918 when most of the U.S. deaths occurred, and finally in winter 1918-1919. The CDC estimated that one-third of the people across the globe got the flu that year.
The bug behind the 1918 flu was named H1N1, and it had genes of avian origin — that means bird origin. The bug behind a 1957-58 flu was H2N2, also from birds. It started in Singapore in February 1957 and moved to the U.S. in the summer that same year. About 1.1 million died worldwide with 116,000 in the United States.
The 1968 pandemic was caused by an H3N2 flu virus, also of avian origin. It showed up in the U.S. in September, killed about 100,000 people here, 1 million worldwide. Most deaths were people 65 or older. According to the CDC, this flu has continued to be a seasonal regular.
However, a new flu emerged in 2009, a novel H1N1, that showed up in the United States and spread around the world. This virus “contained a unique combination of influenza genes not previously identified in animals or people” and was dubbed (H1N1)pdm09, the CDC reported. Existing vaccines did little to protect people and a new one developed came after the peak of the pandemic had passed.
Scientists in the 1930s figured out that viruses, not bacteria, were the culprits when the flu hit.
In 1960, the U.S. Surgeon General first recommended flu shots for people over 65, people with chronic debilitating diseases and pregnant women. In 2003, the first nasal spray flu vaccine was licensed.
The virus has changed through the last 100 years but the best ways to stop its spread haven’t: stay home if you are sick or have been exposed, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and wash your hands OFTEN.
For more information on the history of pandemics, check out https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/index.htm.