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This study aimed to examine the trends in the medical community in Japan during the Spanish flu pandemic by analyzing The Japan Medical World (JMW), a medical journal of modern Japan. The analysis included 3,856 articles published in issues Nos.228–279, from January 1918 to March 1919. Three key issues emerged from this analysis. First, the tone of the JMW's discourse may have been influenced by the prevailing medical situation or may have placed emphasis on specific aspects of the situation. Second, the JMW and the medical community in Japan initially neglected the influenza pandemic until the autumn of 1918, when the Spanish flu became widespread in Japan. Third, complex factors, such as academic factionalism and conflicts within the pharmaceutical industries, influenced the Japanese medical community, particularly the bacteriological scientific community during the Spanish flu pandemic. Therefore, "a comprehensive approach" to understanding the period, including not only medical knowledge but also critical reading skills of humanities and social sciences, is indispensable for analyzing the trends in the Japanese medical community during the Spanish flu pandemic. Attention should be paid to these factors when examining the trends in the medical community in Japan at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the discourse of the so-called 'Spanish flu' in the national Soviet newspapers Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News) during the epidemic period of 1918–1919. Our analysis revealed that discourse developed in three stages, each with specific characteristics. The nature of discourse was, above all, impacted by ideological factors, while reporters and Bolshevik authorities promoting this type of discourse were primarily guided by political expediency. Lack of adequate and comprehensive information on the disease, its etiology, and its spread not only around the world but also in Soviet Russia, administrative and bureaucratic problems, and simultaneous epidemics of other infectious diseases (cholera and typhus) were also significant factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been called the deadliest disease event in history. In this study, we compared the cause-specific mortality rate of the Spanish flu (1918–1920) with that of COVID-19 (2020–2022) in the Netherlands. During the periods of exposure, about 50 000 people died of COVID-19 and 32 000 people of the Spanish flu. In absolute numbers, COVID-19 seems to be deadlier than Spanish flu. However, the crude mortality rates for COVID-19 and Spanish flu were 287 and 486 per 100 000 inhabitants, respectively. Comparing age-standardized mortality rates, there would have been 28 COVID-19– and 194 Spanish flu–related deaths in 1918–1920, or 214 Spanish flu– and 98 COVID-19–related deaths in 2020–2022 per 100 000 inhabitants per year. Thus, taking the population differences into account, the Spanish flu would have been deadlier than COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although it is well known that the older people have been the most susceptible to COVID-19, there are conflicting data on the susceptibility of centenarians. Two epidemiological study have shown that older centenarians (> 101 years old at the time of the 2020 pandemic peak) are more resilient than the remaining centenarians, suggesting that this resilience might be linked to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. To gain insight into this matter, specifically whether the resilience of older centenarians to SARS-CoV-2 infection is linked to the Spanish Flu they had been affected by, we conducted a retrospective serological study. This study examined serum samples from 33 centenarians, encompassing semi- (aged > 104 < 110 years, N = 7) and supercentenarians (aged > 109 years, N = 4), born between 1905 and 1922, against both SARS-CoV-2 and 1918 H1N1 pseudotype virus. Results: Anamnestic and laboratory data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred in 8 centenarians. The infection appeared to have been asymptomatic or mild, and hospitalization was not required, despite 3 out of 8 being between 109 and 110 years old. The levels of anti-spike antibodies in centenarians infected and/or vaccinated were higher, although not significantly, than those produced by a random sample of seventy-year-old individuals used as controls. All centenarians had antibody levels against the 1918 H1N1 virus significantly higher (almost 50 times) than those observed in the quoted group of seventy-year-old subjects, confirming the key role in maintaining immunological memory from a priming that occurred over 100 years ago. Centenarians whose blood was collected prior to the pandemic outbreak demonstrated neutralising antibodies against the 1918 H1N1 virus, but all these subjects tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion: This retrospective study shows that older centenarians are quite resilient to COVID-19, as they are capable of producing good levels of neutralising antibodies and experiencing mild or asymptomatic disease. This could be attributed to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic through mechanisms other than the presence of cross-reactive antibodies between the 1918 H1N1 virus and SARS-CoV-2. Another possibility is that the association is purely temporal, solely correlated with the advanced age of resilient centenarians compared to those born after 1918, since older centenarians are known to have better control of immune-inflammatory responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definition: The Pandemic Equation describes multiple pandemic waves and has been applied to describe the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the generalized approaches of solid-state physics, we derive the Pandemic Equation, which accounts for the effects of pandemic mitigation measures and multiple pandemic waves. The Pandemic Equation uses slow and fast time scales for "curve flattening" and describing vaccination and mitigation measures and the Scaled Fermi–Dirac distribution functions for describing transitions between pandemic waves. The Pandemic Equation parameters extracted from the pandemic curves can be used for comparing different scenarios of the pandemic evolution and for extrapolating the pandemic evolution curves for the periods of time on the order of the instantaneous Pandemic Equation characteristic time constant. The parameter extraction for multiple locations could also allow for uncertainty quantification for such pandemic evolution predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kronika is the property of Kronika, Casopis za Slovensko Krajevno Zgodovino and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the emergency responses decided by state authorities had important social, economic, political and cultural consequences, and also brought the forgotten history of the Spanish flu back to public attention. This contribution compares the two pandemics by drawing attention to the different institutional reactions to the diseases, the transformations of the language of politics, the different social behaviours that emerged in two events that took place one hundred years apart, and their repercussions on the historiographical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious diseases and armed conflicts represent two separate global security threats that endanger entire world population. The problem is that they are most often observed and analysed completely separately, without determining their interconnectedness and the way in which one threat influences the other. Hence, the subject of this paper is the analysis of their correlation, particularly one aspect of that relation that being the determination of the way in which armed conflicts influence the spread of infectious diseases. The paper is based on the assumption that the influence of armed conflicts on the spread of infectious diseases has decreased over the time. The question is whether armed conflicts used to be or still are the main catalyst for the spread of infectious diseases. Examination of literature yielded a conclusion that over the time, concurrently with ever greater interdependence of different parts of the world, the influence of armed conflicts on the spread of infectious diseases decreased. Unlike previous periods, when armed conflicts used to be major catalysts for the spread of these diseases, in 21st century, their influence has not disappeared, but it has been marginalised to a great degree. Thus the gradual process of globalisation has contributed to ever more frequent and intensive movement of people worldwide, which is favourable for fast and easy spreading of infectious diseases, drastically reducing the influence of armed conflicts on their spreading.

Estimating the lethal impact of a pandemic on a religious community with significant barriers to outsiders can be exceedingly difficult. Nevertheless, Stein and colleagues (2021) developed an innovative means of arriving at such an estimate for the lethal impact of COVID-19 on the Amish community in 2020 by counting user-generated death reports in the widely circulated Amish periodical The Budget. By comparing monthly averages of reported deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stein and colleagues were able to arrive at a rough estimate of "excess deaths" during the first year of the pandemic. Our research extends the same research method, applying it to the years during and immediately preceding the global influenza pandemic of 1918. Results show similarly robust findings, including three notable "waves" of excess deaths among Amish and conservative Mennonites in the USA in 1918, 1919, and 1920. Such results point to the promise of utilizing religious periodicals like The Budget as a relatively untapped trove of user-generated data on public health outcomes among religious minorities more than a century in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study highlights how children's literature can serve as a springboard for discussing current events while making connections with a similar historical event. Undergraduate students enrolled in children's literature courses read the graphic novel Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 and discussed the parallels between the book and the COVID‐19 pandemic. Findings indicate strong text‐to‐self and text‐to‐world connections between the events of the flu of 1918 highlighted in the graphic novel and those of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Connections included restrictions and closures, mask mandates, vaccine development, medical theories, and theories of spread. Information dissemination and consumption was a prominent theme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1918–20 pandemic influenza killed 50–100 million people worldwide, but mortality varied by ethnicity and geography. In Norway, areas dominated by Sámi experienced 3–5 times higher mortality than the country's average. We here use data from burial registers and censuses to calculate all-cause excess mortality by age and wave in two remote Sámi areas of Norway 1918–20. We hypothesise that geographic isolation, less prior exposure to seasonal influenza, and thus less immunity led to higher Indigenous mortality and a different age distribution of mortality (higher mortality for all) than was typical for this pandemic in non-isolated majority populations (higher young adult mortality & sparing of the elderly). Our results show that in the fall of 1918 (Karasjok), winter of 1919 (Kautokeino), and winter of 1920 (Karasjok), young adults had the highest excess mortality, followed by also high excess mortality among the elderly and children. Children did not exhibit excess mortality in the second wave in Karasjok in 1920. It was not the young adults alone who produced the excess mortality in Kautokeino and Karasjok. We conclude that geographic isolation caused higher mortality among the elderly in the first and second waves, and among children in the first wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the national lockdowns of 2020/2021 illustrate how modern public health systems are founded on empirical evidence and contemporary understanding of disease transmission. Duncan Forbes was one of the earliest sanitarians in Britain to propose and implement a new understanding of infectious disease control. Starting his early career in Manchester and Cambridge, his eventual tenure as Brighton's longest-serving medical officer of health (MOH) left an indelible mark by challenging the entrenched tradition of terminal disinfection and by devising his "Brighton methods" for the care of tubercular patients. Forbes led Brighton's public health responses during World War I and the 1918/1919 "Spanish" influenza pandemic. Forbes also strove to improve health and housing in Brighton. His views on limiting access to contraception on the grounds of eugenics are also significant. Analysis of Forbes' work then allowed a discussion of both his legacy and of the applicability of his experiences to our own in tackling COVID-19. Forbes undeniably had a great influence in shaping modern public health practice in Britain and his challenges as MOH bear many similarities, as well as stark differences, to today's experience of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTThe 1918–20 pandemic influenza killed 50–100 million people worldwide, but mortality varied by ethnicity and geography. In Norway, areas dominated by Sámi experienced 3–5 times higher mortality than the country’s average. We here use data from burial registers and censuses to calculate all-cause excess mortality by age and wave in two remote Sámi areas of Norway 1918–20. We hypothesise that geographic isolation, less prior exposure to seasonal influenza, and thus less immunity led to higher Indigenous mortality and a different age distribution of mortality (higher mortality for all) than was typical for this pandemic in non-isolated majority populations (higher young adult mortality & sparing of the elderly). Our results show that in the fall of 1918 (Karasjok), winter of 1919 (Kautokeino), and winter of 1920 (Karasjok), young adults had the highest excess mortality, followed by also high excess mortality among the elderly and children. Children did not exhibit excess mortality in the second wave in Karasjok in 1920. It was not the young adults alone who produced the excess mortality in Kautokeino and Karasjok. We conclude that geographic isolation caused higher mortality among the elderly in the first and second waves, and among children in the first wave.

My article examines how literary and visual representations of the “Spanish” Flu contagion foreshadow and generate critical discourses about pandemics. D.H. Lawrence’s novella The Fox characterises paranoia about biological abnormality and loss of agency as a likely reaction to epidemic threats, Josep Pla’s literary non-fiction The Gray Notebook explores how the act of forgetting functions as a coping mechanism during the experience of contagion, and John Singer Sargent’s painting The Interior of a Hospital Tent problematises the contradiction between forgetfulness and pandemic preparedness. Because these works utilise subtle but effective metaphors to understand, remember, and ethicise the trauma of living through a global contagion, they reveal the unexpected ways that metaphors rethink or generate critical resources about pandemics such as COVID-19. My article thus argues that the ability of these works to complement, complicate, and ultimately calibrate hegemonic narratives about COVID-19 makes a persuasive case for the educational relevance of humanistic insights.

Outbreaks of respiratory infections have impact on schools. The present article draws upon sources from the school archives of the former teachers’ seminary Muristalden in the city of Bern in Switzerland. The aim is to ascertain how the various pandemic waves 1918/1919 affected school operations and the people living at Muristalden. During the summer wave 1918 (Phase A), the summer vacations were extended until end of August 1918 to limit infection spread. During the strong second wave in the autumn/winter 1918 (Phase B), the entire autumn quarter was cancelled. However, as this wave coincided with the General Strike in November 1918, during which Muristalden was occupied by the military, many families living at the seminary became ill due to the high prevalence of flu among soldiers. A kind of distance learning was instituted by requiring students to complete homework. At the beginning of 1919 (Phase C), when most of the official measures had been lifted again, considerable gaps in students’ knowledge became evident. Those seminarians who had not yet suffered from the flu became ill within a very short time. This rapid spread resulted in many and long absences, hindering regular teaching and learning. The epidemic resulted in very few fatalities at Muristalden but many seminarians had to struggle with longer-termed after-effects. While the Muristalden case study is just one piece of a jigsaw that many have forgotten, together with other case studies it will contribute to a better understanding of past pandemics and their impacts on education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virus attacks have had devastating effects on mankind. The prominent viruses such as Ebola virus (2012), SARS-CoV or Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus called as the MERS (EMC/2012), Spanish flu (H1N1 virus-1918) and the most recent COVID-19(SARS-CoV-2) are the ones that have created a difficult situation for the survival of the human race. Currently, throughout the world, a global pandemic situation has put economy, livelihood and human existence in a very pathetic situation. Most of the above-mentioned viruses exhibit some similar characteristics and genetic pattern. Analysing such characteristics and genetic pattern can help the researchers to get a deeper insight into the viruses and helps in finding appropriate medicine or cure. To address these issues, this paper proposes an experimental analysis of the above-mentioned viruses data using correlation methods. The virus data considered for the experimental analysis include the distribution of various amino acids, protein sequences, 3D modelling of viruses, pairwise alignment of proteins that comprise the DNA genome of the viruses. Furthermore, this comparative analysis can be used by the researchers and organizations like WHO(World Health Organization), computational biologists, genetic engineers to frame a layout for studying the DNA sequence distribution, percentage of GC (guanine–cytosine) protein which determines the heat stability of viruses. We have used the Biopython to illustrate the gene study of prominent viruses and have derived results and insights in the form of 3D modelling. The experimental results are more promising with an accuracy rate of 96% in overall virus relationship calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish flu pandemic is considered the largest and most dangerous epidemic at the beginning of the 20th century affecting most of the world today. The Spanish flu pandemic did not bypass the territory of Croatia (at the time, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy), nor its southern coastal region of Dalmatia and the city of Split. Using the example of the city Split, the paper analyses the spatial and demographic determinants of population mortality from the Spanish flu between 1918 and 1919, i.e., from March 1918 to April 1919. The paper is based on the data of the Church Death registers kept in the Archbishop’s Archives in Split and newspaper articles. The analysis of the spatial distribution of mortality within urban settlements showed that the number of deaths per urban settlement was significantly influenced by population density but also by the socio-economic conditions of the war and post-war period. The paper analyses the articles of the New Age that refer to the Spanish flu for monitoring the course and spread of the disease, as well as the reading of information but also shaping of public opinion. Analysis of social and demographic aspects of mortality caused by the pandemic in 1918 and 1919 in Split did not indicate any deviations from other areas of Croatia and the rest of the world. In this way, the age-sex, spatial and social framework of mortality and the media framework are analogues to other national and foreign researched areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of Matica Srpska for History / Zbornik Matice Srpske za Istoriju is the property of Matica srpska and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 1918 many countries, but not Spain, were fighting World War I. Spanish press could report about the diffusion and severity of a new infection without censorship for the first-time, so that this pandemic is commonly defined as "Spanish flu", even though Spain was not its place of origin. "Spanish flu" was one of the deadliest pandemics in history and has been frequently compared with the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic. These pandemics share similarities, being both caused by highly variable and transmissible respiratory RNA viruses, and diversity, represented by diagnostics, therapies, and especially vaccines, which were made rapidly available for COVID-19, but not for "Spanish flu". Most comparison studies have been carried out in the first period of COVID-19, when these resources were either not yet available or their use had not long started. Conversely, we wanted to analyze the role that the advanced diagnostics, anti-viral agents, including monoclonal antibodies, and innovative COVID-19 vaccines, may have had in the pandemic containment. Early diagnosis, therapies, and anti-COVID-19 vaccines have markedly reduced the pandemic severity and mortality, thus preventing the collapse of the public health services. However, their influence on the reduction of infections and re-infections, thus on the transition from pandemic to endemic condition, appears to be of minor relevance. The high viral variability of influenza and coronavirus may probably be contained by the development of universal vaccines, which are not easy to be obtained. The only effective weapon still remains the disease prevention, to be achieved with the reduction of promiscuity between the animal reservoirs of these zoonotic diseases and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The rise of the highly lethal severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-2) as corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) reminded us of the history of other pandemics that happened in the last century (Spanish flu) and stayed in the current century, which include Severe-Acute-Respiratory-Syndrome (SARS), Middle-East-Respiratory-Syndrome (MERS), Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19). We review in this report the newest findings and data on the origin of pandemic respiratory viral diseases, reservoirs, and transmission modes. We analyzed viral adaption needed for host switch and determinants of pathogenicity, causative factors of pandemic viruses, and symptoms and clinical manifestations. After that, we concluded the host factors associated with pandemics morbidity and mortality (immune responses and immunopathology, ages, and effect of pandemics on pregnancy). Additionally, we focused on the burdens of COVID-19, non-pharmaceutical interventions (quarantine, mass gatherings, facemasks, and hygiene), and medical interventions (antiviral therapies and vaccines). Finally, we investigated the nanotechnology between COVID-19 analysis and immune system boosting (Nanoparticles (NPs), antimicrobial NPs as antivirals and immune cytokines). This review presents insights about using nanomaterials to treat COVID-19, improve the bioavailability of the abused drugs, diminish their toxicity, and improve their performance. Graphical Abstract

In the history of medicine, the 1918 influenza pandemic (otherwise known as the Spanish flu) occupies a curious place. For decades, historians have claimed that this event reshaped human history, but then somehow disappeared, leaving little historical trace. They have also claimed that this forgetting is particularly evident in the Global South, which experienced the worst devastation. If the Spanish flu has been forgotten, what would its memorialization look like? The first part of this essay outlines the dangers of presuming a proper mode of remembering. The second part proposes an alternative: what if we take the absence of memorialization not as a lack demanding intervention but as a conceptual insight? Finally, this essay clarifies the implications of this refusal to identify the Global South as a zone of exceptional abjection—of human lives as well as of historical accounting—for our practices of remembering COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish flu outbreak is one of the historical catastrophes in southern Iran, Kerman provinces, and citie Kerman, which wiped out most of the population. The epidemic began on October 29, 1918 and continued until 1920 in several waves. Within three years, the population of Kerman due to a Persian famine and disease was reduced from 50,000-60,000 to around 25,000-30,000. In rural areas of Kerman province, there were up to 100% deaths. It effectively killed half the population of the city and caused serious damage to its demographic context and economic development. A rather unpleasant remnant of the epidemic is Tandarestan Cemetery in Kerman, which is the burial place of a large number of people and celebrities such as Nazim al-Islam Kermani (1861-1918), a famous historian, writer and journalist. This article explores the importance of local medical history in Kerman, the effects of the flu outbreak, World War I, and the presence of the British that led to a man-made famine, and malnutrition, and finally the role played by this colonial government in amplifying the flu outbreak, Wrong prescription of opium and decimation of the city. This study examines the type of Spanish flu in Kerman, the death toll and the treatment of British troops for the people.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic highlights questions regarding reinfections and immunity resulting from vaccination and/or previous illness. Studies addressing related questions for historical pandemics are limited.Methods: We revisit an unnoticed archival source on the 1918/19 influenza pandemic. We analysed individual responses to a medical survey completed by an entire factory workforce in Western Switzerland in 1919.Results: Among the total of n = 820 factory workers, 50.2% reported influenza-related illness during the pandemic, the majority of whom reported severe illness. Among male workers 47.4% reported an illness vs. 58.5% of female workers, although this might be explained by varied age distribution for each sex (median age was 31 years old for men, vs. 22 years old for females). Among those who reported illness, 15.3% reported reinfections. Reinfection rates increased across the three pandemic waves. The majority of subsequent infections were reported to be as severe as the first infection, if not more. Illness during the first wave, in the summer of 1918, was associated with a 35.9% (95%CI, 15.7–51.1) protective effect against reinfections during later waves.Conclusion: Our study draws attention to a forgotten constant between multi-wave pandemics triggered by respiratory viruses: Reinfection and cross-protection have been and continue to be a key topic for health authorities and physicians in pandemics, becoming increasingly important as the number of waves increases.

In this paper, we discuss the classical modelling approach of pandemics as a negative labour shock. We perform an archival analysis of one of the largest Italian banks (Credito Italiano) during the First World War – Spanish Flu period (1914–1920). In particular, we scrutinise the circulars that the central management of the bank sent out to the local branches, with the aim to assess whether the Spanish Flu has been perceived by contemporaries as an event seriously affecting personnel management. Though restricted to a single case-study, archival evidence does not support the existence of a remarkable negative labour supply shock affecting personnel management because of the Spanish Flu pandemic. Other war-related events probably increased the system's resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish flu's efficacy of spreading across El Paso was in part due to neoliberal governments and racially prejudiced free-market economies exploiting a natural ecosystem to marginalize a Latinx community. This study identifies the tragic consequences these actions brought about for an entire city of both marginalized and privileged. This work argues for a new paradigm of rhetorical agency that accounts for interactions between rhetorical ecologies happening over time. This work demonstrates this paradigm through government policies, newspaper articles, press releases, and ecological surveys of El Paso, Texas, beginning with the early nineteenth century through the first years of the Spanish flu (1918–20). Through the lens of rhetorical methods concerning agency distribution and radical interactionality, we see how one neighborhood played a vital role in the epidemic's spread throughout the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iranian Civilization Research is the property of Shahid Bahonar Kerman University, Faculty of Literature & Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the present paper, we have analysed the role of age and sex in the fatal outcome of COVID-19, as there are conflicting results in the literature. As such, we have answered three controversial questions regarding this aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Have women been more resilient than men? (2) Did centenarians die less than the remaining older people? (3) Were older centenarians more resistant to SARS-CoV-2 than younger centenarians? The literature review demonstrated that: (1) it is women who are more resilient, in agreement with data showing that women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics; however, there are conflicting data regarding centenarian men; (2) centenarians overall did not die less than remaining older people, likely linked to their frailty; (3) in the first pandemic wave of 2020, centenarians > 101 years old (i.e., born before 1919), but not "younger centenarians", have been more resilient to COVID-19 and this may be related to the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, although it is unclear what the mechanisms might be involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many questions remain unanswered regarding the so-called "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918. This article addresses three of them and describes the state of knowledge for each of them: Where did the pandemic start? How many people died? And why was it so deadly?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mortality from COVID-19 progressively increases with age, there are controversial data in the literature on the probability of centenarians dying from COVID-19. Moreover, it has been claimed that men in their 90s and 100s are more resilient than women. To gain insight into this matter, we analysed, according to gender, mortality data during the first year of pandemic of Sicilian nonagenarians and centenarians. We used mortality data from the 2019 as a control. The crude excess mortality between the two years was calculated. Data on deaths of Sicilian 90 + years show that, in line with what is known about the different response to infections between the two genders, oldest females are more resilient to COVID-19 than males. Moreover, centenarians born before 1919, but not "younger centenarians", are resilient to COVID-19. This latter datum should be related to the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, although the mechanisms involved are not clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919 was widely regarded as the deadliest in modern history, claiming more lives than World War I. Colonial Indonesia was not spared. Several scholars have estimated that around 1.5 to 4.37 million people in the colony perished, making the death rate one of the highest in Asia. In the midst of the chaos and confusion caused by the pandemic, many people in colonial Indonesia turned to traditional medicines, particularly the poorer members of society who were inexperienced in Western medicine. Herbal treatment was considered a viable option for those who frequently faced discrimination when visiting Dutch clinics or hospitals. This essay demonstrates how more than a century ago, various ethnic groups in colonial Indonesia relied on nature to develop their own “vaccine” and medication in the fight against the Spanish flu. In the context of the pandemic, Sin Po and other newspapers played an essential role in spreading information about herbal medicines as an alternative, more affordable remedy than modern Western medicine. These newspapers provided the inspiration to investigate traditional Indonesian therapies more thoroughly. An examination of this subject reveals that there is nothing new under the sun. The colonial government never had a grand design to combat or stop the spread of a pandemic. It made almost no efforts at prevention and the outcome of this lack of preparedness was clear. Unfortunately, even more than a hundred years later, when COVID-19 struck Indonesia, nothing had really changed.

The aim of this paper is to point out the part of different epidemics in the reduction of population in Serbia during the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912 - 1913) and the First World War (1914 - 1918). In addition to suffering on the battlefield, the war conditions of life also led to the culmination of various diseases and the appearance of various major and minor, local, regional and world epidemics. By comparing data from the 1910-1913 census and in 1921 there was a population reduction of 526,430. (4,393,315: 3,866,885). Various infectious diseases took significantly more lives than all other causes combined, including war. According to accepted estimates, during the war years, infectious diseases took about 360,000 lives. The typhus epidemic, which affected the whole of Serbia during the first half of 1915, took about 135,000 lives. This paper is largely based on the analysis of church registers of the dead, and it points out several different local epidemics that affected the Serbian army and civilian population during the war years with great mortal consequences which took about 110,000 lives. These epidemics appeared during the all war years, associated or not associated with each other, and in different territories. These epidemics were: cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, dysentery, scarlet fever, whooping cough, etc.

The similarity of the consequences of COVID-19 reminded us of the destruction caused by the Spanish flu over a century ago and led us to find similarities in the way the two pandemics were handled. PRISMA Guideline was followed for a systematic search to identify eligible published articles. Information about the public health measures adopted during both the pandemics was taken from literature. It was found that there are parallels between the two pandemics in terms of general unpreparedness, attitudes of the community and government, and various policy issues. All the measures implemented in 2020 were the same as those implemented in 1918–1919, with the same trend, uncertainty, early relaxing, and rapid reversals. Even from a scientific standpoint, all the elements were already known. All the issues such as social isolation, intra-family spread, personal protective equipment, medicine types (quinine, aspirin, anti-inflammatories, etc.), immunization requirements, and so on had already been addressed. No doubt, we do have technology today at our disposal for managing the spread of the disease and even spread awareness among people much easily. We also have taken many steps forward in the world of globalization, which make the progression and spread of the pandemic very fast as well. Both factors tend to counter each other and hence make timely public health intervention as important (if not more) today as it was yesterday. When possible, approaches and goals should be found on scientific facts and include ethical input. Finally, we must take careful notice of past local and national lessons to avoid repeating the mistakes done in the past. The development of a strategy ahead of time that includes all levels of government health infrastructure and outlines clear lines of duties and functions is critical. The main objective of this article was to compare the public health measures undertaken during the pandemic of Spanish Flu and the pandemic of COVID-19, and assess the similarities and differences in the public health measures taken during these pandemics. The correlation of the public health measures and the outcomes was assessed and the implication of this article was to be pandemic-ready in the future.

The architectural history of healthcare in South Africa remains greatly understudied, as do the consequences of the 1918–19 Spanish Flu, which ravaged its population. Yet that pandemic had great consequences for South African society, spatial planning and the development of healthcare, of which the latter two were still in their infancy at the time. This article explores the link between disease and design in South Africa through the presentation of the histories of selected hospitals, maternity homes, orphanages and a special care school designed by émigré Dutch architects from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is the product of desktop and archival research, site visits and interviews undertaken in both South Africa and the Netherlands. It outlines the disparity of care that was provided for different groups and is a first attempt to identify healthcare ideas transposed into the subcontinent fuelled by the tragic experiences of the Spanish Flu pandemic. Due to this health crisis, communities – structured in terms of language, faith and race – attempted to develop their own facilities for the care of their own. Where communities had no means of their own, charitable organisations tried to fill the void. Over the course of the twentieth century, public healthcare was centralised, but many of the community and charitable institutions persist. By chance or choice, émigré Dutch architects made a disproportionately large contribution to the development of healthcare facilities in South Africa, not only in the number and range of facilities they designed, but also by introducing contemporary ideas into South African healthcare design.

In this interview, Tom Inglesby -- director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health -- discusses an array of issues surrounding infectious disease outbreaks, from preparedness measures to detection of novel pathogens to response by the public health system. He delves into why, in the 100 years since the 1918 Spanish flu, the world has experienced no pandemic of similar proportions. He assesses whether the next major pandemic will more likely be associated with a naturally occurring or an engineered pathogen; describes the tension between desirable and feasible levels of preparedness; and shares his experiences briefing senior government officials on national biosecurity challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2009, the World Health Organization declared a new pandemic, the 2009 swine influenza pandemic (swine flu). The symptoms of the swine flu pandemic causing strain were comparable to most of the symptoms noted by seasonal influenza. Zoonotic viruses that caused the swine flu pandemic and its preventive measures. As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the clinical manifestations in humans produced by the 2009 H1N1 'swine flu' virus were equivalent to the manifestations caused by related flu strains. The H1N1 vaccination was the most successful prophylactic measure since it prevented the virus from spreading and reduced the intensity and consequences of the pandemic. Despite the availability of therapeutics, the ongoing evolution and appearance of new strains have made it difficult to develop effective vaccines and therapies. Currently, the CDC recommends yearly flu immunization for those aged 6 months and above. The lessons learned from the A/2009/H1N1 pandemic in 2009 indicated that readiness of mankind toward new illnesses caused by mutant viral subtypes that leap from animals to people must be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-war baseball attendance data afford a unique opportunity to assess how leisure spending fared not only through deflation but also after such shocks as the Spanish Flu of 1918 and the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Long-run analysis via a vector error correction model (VECM) reveals significant cointegration of baseball attendance with both prices and output. A long-run positive relationship with prices offers evidence of a negative impact of deflation on leisure spending, suggesting that deflation is indeed more to be feared than inflation. There are also apparent parallels between the post-pandemic boom in leisure spending in 1919 and the post-2020 experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author undertakes a descriptive and synthesis and analysis of the novel COVID-19 Pandemic dubbed as the Corona disease or the "Wuhan Virus". Essentially, the author explores six objectives and points to the effects of the pandemic psychologically, health-wise, economically and even socially. Quintessentially, the author contends the untold value of prior planning in disaster preparedness and mitigation, a glaring challenge to all nations across the globe. Thirdly, the need for research as well as integrity and being resolute and forthright in the wake of disasters is being highlighted. The paper also highlights some statistical on the continuous rise and trends of the Covid19 which started in China in November 2019 spreading into all continents and most countries the world over. Towards the end vital lessons have been pointed out and recommendations made on the need for more research, impressing the need for the input of the key players and or stakeholders in response and mitigation of such a pandemic now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]