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I thought this would be a timely time to bring up the 1918 superflu. Here are two statistical charts:Three pandemic waves, June 1918 - April 1919Death rate by age, 1918If I find more about the flu that's interesting I'll post it here.
According to the CDC:
The U.S. death toll surged fourfold from 16,263 in 1976-77 to 64,684 in 1998-99, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Flu deaths now average about 36,000 a year, up from 20,000 in previous estimates, the CDC said
This current wave of fear and panic isn't even close.
My father told me that the funeral homes ran out of coffins in 1918. Somewhere in my medical books I have a book called Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata . Can't lay my hands on it right now. If I remember correctly most of the deaths were from a bloody pneumonia.
Didn't the 1918 flu start from birds? I think I heard that it was supposed to have come from persons (or a person) who raised birds (ducks?) and was therefore in close proximity to them. Eventually the flu became a factor in the ongoing war. I believe that the CDC has strains of the 1918 superflu in its reserves in Atlanta.
