What was the 1918 Spanish flu?
The Spanish flu was an influenza pandemic that spread across the world in 1918–1919. It was caused by an influenza A(H1N1) virus with genes of bird origin. The CDC estimates that about 500 million people were infected. That was one third of the world’s population at the time.
The disease was a respiratory infection. Like other flu viruses, it passed from person to person in droplets released when an infected person coughed, sneezed or talked.
Spanish flu dates: when did it start and end?
The pandemic came in waves. The spring 1918 wave was fairly mild in most places. The second wave, from September to November 1918, was far deadlier. Many countries had a third wave in early 1919.
The end is blurry. In many places the third wave faded by summer 1919. But the US and some European countries had new waves in early 1920. So you cannot give the pandemic a single closing date.
Timeline
- 4 March 1918: Cook Albert Gitchell falls ill at Camp Funston. His is an early record, not the first case.
- September–November 1918: The far deadlier second wave sweeps the world.
- October 1918: An estimated 195,000 people die in the US in a single month.
- Early 1919: Many countries suffer a third wave.
- Early 1920: New waves hit the US and some European countries.
- 1924: Britannica publishes These Eventful Years, a recent-history work that leaves the pandemic out.
- 1957: The H1N1 line that descended from the 1918 virus, which had kept circulating in humans, lasts until this year.
- March 2020: English Wikipedia’s “Spanish flu” article is viewed more than 8.2 million times.
Spanish flu origin: where did it start?
The place where it began has not been settled. Three explanations compete: Kansas, the military camp at Étaples in France, and a China-linked origin. None has won out.
The Kansas story rests on Camp Funston, part of Fort Riley. In March 1918, more than 100 soldiers there caught the flu. Within a week the case count had grown fivefold. One early record belongs to Albert Gitchell, a cook who fell ill on 4 March 1918. He is not counted as the first patient, because there were cases before him.
So if you read that the flu “started” at a certain camp, treat it as a theory.
Why is it called the Spanish flu?
Spain did not start it. Spain was neutral in World War I. Its newspapers reported the outbreak openly. Countries at war suppressed news of the disease. Readers saw the most coverage coming from Spain, and the illness became linked with the country.
The war also helped the virus itself. Crowded military camps and troop movements between continents made it easier for the flu to spread.
Spanish flu symptoms
Most patients, especially in the first wave, had the usual flu signs: a sore throat, a headache and a fever. If you have ever stayed home with that combination, you know the feeling.
The autumn 1918 cases could be much worse. Doctors reported high fever, blue-tinged skin caused by too little oxygen, and fluid filling the lungs.
Most deaths followed a pattern. The virus damaged the airways. Then a secondary bacterial pneumonia set in. This was the deciding factor in the majority of deaths.
Spanish flu death toll and mortality rate
The number you see most often is 50 million. The CDC says at least 50 million people died worldwide. But the CDC also says this is not an exact count. Estimates built from historical death records differ widely.
A 2018 study challenged the larger figures. Peter Spreeuwenberg, Madelon Kroneman and John Paget worked from data for 13 countries and British India. They estimated the world total at about 17.4 million deaths. They argued against the widely repeated 50–100 million range.
For the United States, the CDC estimates about 675,000 deaths. In October 1918 alone, about 195,000 Americans died.
The case fatality rate measures deaths among people who fell sick, not among everyone. Taubenberger and Morens put it above 2.5 percent in their 2006 assessment.
One feature made the pandemic unusual. People aged 20–40, normally the healthiest group, also died in high numbers.
Spanish flu vs COVID-19
The two diseases have different causes. The Spanish flu came from influenza A(H1N1). COVID-19 comes from SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus identified in 2019.
They also share a way of spreading. Influenza viruses pass on through respiratory droplets, and so does the coronavirus.
The tools were different too. In 1918 there was no effective flu vaccine. There were no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections. So officials relied on isolation, quarantine, hygiene and limits on gatherings.
Why was the pandemic forgotten?
The word “forgotten” needs care. Historians disagree about what was lost, and the evidence points both ways.
Signs of silence. The US National Archives says the 1918 epidemic was largely ignored in teaching American history until February 2020, even though extensive records exist. Scientific American reports that Britannica’s 1,300-page, two-volume These Eventful Years (1924) did not mention it.
Explanations from historians:
- J. Alexander Navarro argues that the trauma of World War I overshadowed the pandemic.
- Nancy Bristow says the pandemic did not fit the American story of steady progress. That, she suggests, is one reason for the public silence.
- James Wertsch says the unclear origin and the many waves made it hard to fit the flu into stories built around war heroes and victories.
Signs of memory. Alfred Crosby studied personal letters and recollections. They show people remembered the epidemic strongly. Guy Beiner describes the problem as one of social silence. In his view memories were not erased. People simply did not talk about them in public.
The 2020 numbers also limit the idea of total forgetting. English Wikipedia’s “Spanish flu” article had 144,000 monthly views at its record in 2018, the centenary year. In March 2020 it was viewed more than 8.2 million times.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
- A vaccine for the wrong germ. In 1918, researchers made hundreds of thousands of doses of experimental vaccine. But they believed the cause was a bacterium, so they aimed at the wrong pathogen.
- Philadelphia’s coffins. In October 1918, more than 500 bodies waited for burial in Philadelphia. Cold-storage facilities were turned into temporary morgues. A streetcar manufacturer donated 200 packing crates to serve as coffins.
- Paper campaigns. The US Public Health Service printed six million information leaflets. The Red Cross published its own leaflet in eight languages.
- A line in Turkish poetry. In Nâzım Hikmet’s Kuvâyi Milliye Destanı, the account of Istanbul’s experience in 1914–1918 mentions typhus alongside the “Spanish cold” (İspanyol nezlesi).
- A long afterlife. After 1918, population immunity pushed the virus to change. Its descendants kept circulating as seasonal outbreaks, and the H1N1 line in humans lasted until 1957.
FAQ
When was the Spanish flu?
The pandemic spread in 1918–1919. The mild first wave came in spring 1918, the deadly second wave ran from September to November 1918, and a third wave followed in early 1919. The US and some European countries saw new waves in early 1920, so the end cannot be fixed to one day.
Where did the Spanish flu start?
Nobody knows for sure. Kansas, the military camp at Étaples in France and China-linked explanations all compete. The name ‘Spanish’ comes from neutral Spain’s open press coverage, not from the disease starting there.
How many people died of the Spanish flu?
The CDC estimates at least 50 million deaths worldwide and about 675,000 in the United States. The worldwide figure is not an exact count. A 2018 study put the global total at roughly 17.4 million.
What were the symptoms of the Spanish flu?
Most early patients had a sore throat, headache and fever. In severe autumn 1918 cases, doctors reported high fever, bluish skin from lack of oxygen and fluid in the lungs.
How is the Spanish flu different from COVID-19?
The Spanish flu was caused by influenza A(H1N1). COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus identified in 2019. Both spread through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing or talking.
Sources
- CDC — History of 1918 Flu Pandemic archive.cdc.gov
- CDC — 1918 Pandemic Influenza Historic Timeline archive.cdc.gov
- Emerging Infectious Diseases — 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics wwwnc.cdc.gov
- American Journal of Epidemiology — Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic academic.oup.com
- CDC — Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19 cdc.gov
- Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology — Back to the Future: Lessons Learned From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic frontiersin.org
- National WWI Museum and Memorial — Pandemic Then and Now theworldwar.org
- National Archives — The Flu Pandemic of 1918 archives.gov
- Scientific American — The 1918 Flu Faded in Our Collective Memory scientificamerican.com
- Smithsonian Magazine — What Caused the Roaring Twenties? Not the End of a Pandemic (Probably) smithsonianmag.com
- Wikipedia — Spanish flu en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Camp Funston en.wikipedia.org
- Vikipedi — İspanyol gribi tr.wikipedia.org
Image: Emergency hospital during Influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas – NCP 1603.jpg — Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medi, Public domain
