A Similar Pandemic - The Spanish Flu

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3 years ago

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"Does history repeat itself? Or does it repeat itself only as penance for those who are incapable of listening to it?". - Eduardo Galeano

With this incredible phrase, we begin this publication, more than a hundred years ago, an event happened that in one way or another paralyzed the world, and caused panic in many countries, a pandemic that cost the lives of a large number of people.

According to historical data, in 1918 the First World War ended, however, while in the world everyone began to overcome such a sad and traumatic episode, an epidemic began to spread from border to border, regardless of age, race, sex or social class, its victims preferably young people and adults, between 20 and 40 years old, it all began as a simple flu and fever, however new symptoms appeared, diarrhea, ear pain and vomiting. All over the world, confinements and quarantines began, but the lack of information and ignorance contributed to the increase of cases, many ignored the magnitude of the flu, and continued their lives as if nothing happened, governments decided to close clubs, bars, places where large groups of people gathered, because they understood that these places could become focal points of the disease.

Its origin today remains a mystery, some say it originated in France in 1916, others in China in 1917, however many studies indicate that it all began in a U.S. military base in March 1918, and from there began to spread around the world, reaching Europe, and raging with Spain. As everything in life, there is always someone to blame, remember that Spain did not participate in the First World War, it was a neutral country, and as it was one of the few that gave freedom to publish all possible data on this pandemic, many countries attributed that the flu came from them, however it was quite the opposite, this country echoed the flu, and publications began to come out, referring to what it was, its symptoms, and how to "prevent it".

Latin America did not escape from this pandemic, in many Latin American cities, people fell in the streets dead, because there was no cure, the lack of availability of the countries to investigate and make scientific advances, aggravated such pandemic, in short, this flu killed more than 40 million people in the world, but according to some experts, that figure may be much higher, because there is no exact data, only in Spain 8 million people were infected and 300,000 thousand people died. The Spanish Flu continues to baffle scientists, but what can be said is that it was caused by an "outbreak of influenza virus A, subtype H1N1".

When the year 1920 arrived, the virus went away as it appeared, leaving the world devastated, and death in every city, town or country, the cause of death of people was secondary bacterial pneumonia, others died from massive acute pulmonary hemorrhage or pulmonary edema, due to the lack of antibiotics, many did not last more than 5 days, As you can read and compare dear readers, there are many similarities between the Spanish Flu and Covid-19, it is surprising that even though more than 100 years have passed, we have not been able to protect ourselves enough, nor prevent these situations, we can only take care of ourselves, stay at home, follow the rules of hygiene, and hope that this happens as soon as possible.