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Lethal Virus That Killed Millions

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 October 2005, 12:02 CDT

The 1918 "Spanish" flu pandemic is estimated to have infected up to one billion people ( half the world's population at the time. The virus killed more people than any other single outbreak of disease, surpassing even the Black Death of the Middle Ages.

Although it probably originated in the Far East, it was dubbed "Spanish" flu because the press in Spain ( not being involved in the Great War ( were the first to report extensively on its impact. The virus caused three waves of disease. The second of these, between September and December 1918, resulting in the heaviest loss of life.

It is thought that the virus may have played a role in ending the Great War as soldiers were too sick to fight, and by that stage more men on both sides died of flu than were killed by weapons.

Although most people who were infected with the virus recovered within a week following bed rest, some died within 24 hours of infection.

Scientists today have worked out how the virus causing the world's worst flu epidemic infected man. They believe the virus jumped from birds to humans.

MAJOR FLU OUTBREAKS

Spanish flu ( 1918

Asian flu ( 1957

Hong Kong flu ( 1968.

Source: Evening Chronicle - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

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