Spanish flu pandemic: why is it called Spanish flu? How deadly was the 1918 pandemic? | World | New

The great pandemic of 1918 was the most deadly disease of recent history, as millions of people died from the deadly Spanish flu.

The flu season in the UK usually lasts during the winter and spring months of a year and is marked by thousands of cases of traditional influenza infections.

Symptoms can usually cause people to fall from their feet, confining them to bed for a week, but deaths are usually limited to those with weakened immune systems.

The Spanish flu, however, was an entirely new phenomenon, the disease apparently materializing out of nowhere and killing those who were in top form.

The Spanish flu was a seasonal influenza strain that was forming as an airborne virus with enormous potential for spread around the world.

Diseases that become "airborne" are those that can be spread by droplets that are sneezed or flooded by people and thrown into the air.

People who breathe these droplets then contract the disease and become sick.

Most of the time, airborne diseases are not particularly deadly because, to become airborne, diseases must often escape death for better transmission.

The Spanish flu was a different case, however, as it remained extremely deadly while maintaining the rate of spread of seasonal flu.

Why was he called the Spanish flu?

The disease has been called Spanish Flu because of the place where cases began to develop.

We do not exactly know the origin of the disease, but the first cases were discovered in Spain, where one of the first victims was King Alfonso XIII.

This resulted in rapid media coverage around the world, but many countries, including the United Kingdom, carried out clippings to prevent morale being affected during the First World War.

Spain was apparently one of the only places where influenza was present, as no media coverage reported it in other countries, so it became known as the "Spanish flu".

It is thought that the origin of the disease comes from the trenches of the First World War, when the soldiers returned to civilization.

How big was the 1918 pandemic?

The pandemic of 1918 saw 500 million people infected with the flu, which swept the planet, a third of the world's population.

The Spanish flu hit in waves between 1917 and 1918, with milder infections at first, before two other, much more deadly waves.

In the United Kingdom, it is thought that the disease was caused by the return of troops returning home by train, allowing the disease to spread to major cities and travel centers.

At least 50 million people were killed worldwide as part of the pandemic and a quarter of the British population was infected, with 228,000 deaths.

The disease has infected a segment of the population that is completely different from seasonal influenza, with prevalence being highest among healthy people between 20 and 30 years of age.

This is unusual for the flu, which usually strikes the youngest or the oldest with a weaker immune system.

With these infected primary populations, life expectancy in the United States has dropped significantly.

Life expectancy dropped by more than a decade in the year the disease hit the United States from 12 years to 36.6 years for men and 42.2 years for women.

Scientists have subsequently confirmed that the Spanish flu was caused by the H1N1 virus (swine flu) and that it has been prevalent in the world for 38 years.