The second wave was the worst.
WWI created the ideal situation that gave the virus a vast new supply of hosts. Thus it mutated (like all viruses do) and the boys coming home from overseas brought this newly mutated form of the virus back home with them. Soldiers disembarked at Commonwealth Pier in Boston Harbour, with 8 cases in these returning soldiers. A week later 119 cases. Most were transferred to a Naval Hospital in Chelsa. From there the flu spread to Camp Devens.(30 miles west of Boston) By mid- September 50,000 civilians and soldiers were sick throughout Massachusetts.
Dr. William Henry Welch, one of the most eminent pathologist of his day, had been summoned. This virus was no longer the 3 day flu - it had become a relentless killer. It had a rapid onset.It was able 2 burrow so deep in the lungs, so early in the illness, that the lungs became flooded before any immune response was possible.Bodies starved for oxygen that couldn't get in the super inf lammed lungs, developed distinctive heliotrope cyenosis. Patients drown in their own blood and fluids. The progression from feeling fine to near death often took less than 24 hrs. Many suffered from epistaxis- severe nose bleeds. Some women hemorrhaged heavily from their vaginas. This virus was most lethal in pregnant women. 75% of all pregnant women at that time died from the flu.
Viruses are NOT living creatures, like bacteria, no vaccine, no antibiotic could stop them.
So on went the virus...killing many in it's deadly march across America and all other countries around the world.October 1918 was the deadliest month for Americans. October 2,1918 - 202 Bostionares died and all public meeting places were ordered shut.Procrastination of officials proved to be disastrous, especially for Philadelphia- they held their 4th annual Liberty Loan Drive parade with 200,000 people in attendance. In little over a week Philadelphia was dying. Literally!
1st week in October 2,600 dead.
October 10,1918 -759 dead.
2nd week in October 4,597 dead.
In one month October -11,000 dead.
Health Officials all over the country told people NOT TO PANIC! I find this hilarious for one, the word itself-panic derived from the word pandemic. People should and will "Panic" during a pandemic! (DUH) Second, the instant the "Government" says that word(panic), we, as a people(Americans) know something is truly amiss. Sad fact right there.
With the dead bodies piled up in the overflowing morgues, the stench and filth was said to be indescribable. Nobody went near the dead bodies. And no one came to pick up the dead bodies either. Eventually the priests and seminarians became the only ones who could stomach the pick up of so many dead bodies. Families had to dig the graves of their loved ones themselves. There were no coffins to be had, or a gravedigger to be found. Entire families were wiped out throughout all neighborhoods.
October 1918 - 200,000 dead in America.
By November 11,1918 people again flocked to the streets celebrating the end of the war.
The Third Wave...
WWI created the ideal situation that gave the virus a vast new supply of hosts. Thus it mutated (like all viruses do) and the boys coming home from overseas brought this newly mutated form of the virus back home with them. Soldiers disembarked at Commonwealth Pier in Boston Harbour, with 8 cases in these returning soldiers. A week later 119 cases. Most were transferred to a Naval Hospital in Chelsa. From there the flu spread to Camp Devens.(30 miles west of Boston) By mid- September 50,000 civilians and soldiers were sick throughout Massachusetts.
Dr. William Henry Welch, one of the most eminent pathologist of his day, had been summoned. This virus was no longer the 3 day flu - it had become a relentless killer. It had a rapid onset.It was able 2 burrow so deep in the lungs, so early in the illness, that the lungs became flooded before any immune response was possible.Bodies starved for oxygen that couldn't get in the super inf lammed lungs, developed distinctive heliotrope cyenosis. Patients drown in their own blood and fluids. The progression from feeling fine to near death often took less than 24 hrs. Many suffered from epistaxis- severe nose bleeds. Some women hemorrhaged heavily from their vaginas. This virus was most lethal in pregnant women. 75% of all pregnant women at that time died from the flu.
Viruses are NOT living creatures, like bacteria, no vaccine, no antibiotic could stop them.
So on went the virus...killing many in it's deadly march across America and all other countries around the world.October 1918 was the deadliest month for Americans. October 2,1918 - 202 Bostionares died and all public meeting places were ordered shut.Procrastination of officials proved to be disastrous, especially for Philadelphia- they held their 4th annual Liberty Loan Drive parade with 200,000 people in attendance. In little over a week Philadelphia was dying. Literally!
1st week in October 2,600 dead.
October 10,1918 -759 dead.
2nd week in October 4,597 dead.
In one month October -11,000 dead.
Health Officials all over the country told people NOT TO PANIC! I find this hilarious for one, the word itself-panic derived from the word pandemic. People should and will "Panic" during a pandemic! (DUH) Second, the instant the "Government" says that word(panic), we, as a people(Americans) know something is truly amiss. Sad fact right there.
With the dead bodies piled up in the overflowing morgues, the stench and filth was said to be indescribable. Nobody went near the dead bodies. And no one came to pick up the dead bodies either. Eventually the priests and seminarians became the only ones who could stomach the pick up of so many dead bodies. Families had to dig the graves of their loved ones themselves. There were no coffins to be had, or a gravedigger to be found. Entire families were wiped out throughout all neighborhoods.
October 1918 - 200,000 dead in America.
By November 11,1918 people again flocked to the streets celebrating the end of the war.
The Third Wave...
2 comments:
Holleigh,
I think that you present a lot of information. I do think that it is appropriate to have a fear of what could happen. Let us hope that H5N1 does not mutate into a virus that can be passed human to human. Then all we have to do is quarantine the domesticated birds, until science can catch up to the virus.
Well It would be great if we could do that, but like the proverbal ostich head in the sand, or a child sheilding their eyes, it doesn't make the danger and reality of a pandemic any less tangible.
That is why I wrote this... 2 get in touch with people 2 maybe inspire them 2 take control over what will happen during a pandemic. Stock food & water, have alternate heat, have all kinds of meds, and reevaluate their position of life and their own survival.We must do this 4 ourselves there will be NO CALVERY 2 HELP US! And a little fear can motivate idf properly administered with facts and realistic thinking.
Thanx 4 taking the time 2 read.
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