In 1918, a strain of influenza known as Spanish flu caused a global pandemic, spreading rapidly and killing indiscriminately. Young, old, sick and otherwise-healthy people all became infected — at least 10% of patients died. Although at the time it gained the nickname "Spanish flu," it's unlikely that the virus originated in Spain.
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00:00In 1918, a strain of influenza known at the time as the Spanish flu caused a devastating global pandemic.
00:10The virus infected an estimated one-third of the world's population and killed at least 50 million people,
00:18making the 1918 flu the deadliest pandemic in modern history.
00:23The outbreak began during the final months of World War I.
00:27Historians believe the conflict contributed to spreading the disease because as troops began to return to their home countries, they brought the virus with them.
00:38In 2014, previously undiscovered records linked the 1918 flu to the transportation of Chinese laborers across Canada in 1917 and 1918.
00:50These laborers would spend about a week in sealed train containers as they were transported across the country before continuing to France.
01:01But reports show that several thousand laborers ended their Canadian journey in medical quarantine.
01:08Canadian doctors didn't take the workers' symptoms seriously, and by the time the laborers arrived in northern France, many more had become sick and hundreds were soon dying.
01:19So why then is this pandemic called the Spanish flu?
01:24Well, Spain was one of the first places where the epidemic was identified, but historians think that's only because of wartime censorship.
01:32Spain was a neutral nation and didn't enforce strict censorship of its press during the war, so the Spanish press freely published early accounts of the illness.
01:42As a result, people thought the flu started in Spain, and the name Spanish flu struck.
01:50By the summer of 1918, the virus was quickly spreading to other countries in Europe, and the epidemic rapidly became a pandemic as it made its way around the world.
02:01By August 1918, the flu had infected civilians in Canada and South Africa, and by September, it had reached the U.S. through Boston Harbor.
02:12World War I caused a shortage of doctors in some areas, and many of the physicians who were left became ill themselves.
02:20Schools and other buildings became makeshift hospitals, and medical students had to take the place of doctors in some cases.
02:30To prevent the infection from spreading, physicians urged people to avoid crowded places or spending time with people outside their households.
02:40People were advised not to shake hands with others, to stay indoors, to avoid touching communal things like library books, and to wear masks that covered their mouths and noses when in public.
02:57Schools and schools and theaters closed, and the New York City Department of Health strictly enforced a sanitary code amendment that made spitting in the streets illegal.
03:09By the spring of 1919, the number of deaths from the Spanish flu were decreasing, but countries were left devastated in the wake of the outbreak.
03:19Pneumonia or other respiratory complications brought about by the flu were often the main causes of death.
03:25This makes it hard to determine the exact numbers killed by the flu, as the listed cause of death was often something else.
03:34The flu killed over 675,000 Americans in total.
03:40The impact on the population was so severe that in 1918, American life expectancy was reduced by 12 years.
03:47Globally, the 1918 flu remains the most deadly modern pandemic to date, having killed an estimated one to three percent of the world's population.
03:56Two other flu pandemics occurred during the 1900s, killing an estimated one million people each.
04:04The most recent flu pandemic took place in 2009, and killed around 200,000 people.
04:10These pandemic flu viruses spread easily because they didn't closely resemble the seasonal flu viruses circulating at the time.
04:17When it comes to seasonal flu outbreaks nowadays, we have international flu monitoring systems, antiviral medications, and annual flu shots that help to keep the rate of severe disease and death in check.
04:29Scientists are continually working to improve the annual flu shot, and someday, they hope to roll out universal flu vaccines that protect against a wide array of flu viruses.
04:39CREATIONAL kepko, WHO TURESTS AND CREDITS OF NATURAL CHECK
04:46A LAST WEEK
04:48CREDITS OF NATURAL CHECK