Spanish flu is a misnomer for the 1918 influenza pandemic.

100 years have passed since the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. Are we ready for the next pandemic? On Friday at 6 pm, Future Tense will hold a conversation about the hour of the appetizer at D.C. with experts to talk about what we learned in 1918 and what we can do now to prepare for the next global epidemic. For more information and to confirm your presence, visit the New America website.

In 1918, an influenza pandemic swept the world, killing more people in one year than any event in human history – about 50 million to 100 million, or about 3-6% of the population World. The flu, which killed about 20% of those who contracted it, became the "Spanish flu" or the "Spanish lady". His name has spread, like the flu, and has persisted until now.

But since Chinese ladies were not invented in China, Australian shepherds are not Australian and Liberté fries are not French, Spanish flu is not native to Spain, and Spain does not did not suffer. In fact, millions deaths from influenza, fewer than 260,000 occurred in Spain.

The wrong name, according to an episode of the podcast Backstory, is the result of geopolitical forces. When the pandemic broke out during the First World War, neither party wanted the other to discover they were sick. They also did not want their own troops to lose morale or their public panic. The news of the epidemic has been repressed or largely minimized in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. But Spain, like Switzerland, was neutral during the war and its media did not hesitate to cover the contagious epidemic weakening its population, thus creating a false impression that it was only in the past. was acting from a Spanish disease. As virologist John Oxford puts it: "And the rest of the world, I think, looked around and said," What's going on in Spain? And since then, to the chagrin of the Spaniards and to the chagrin of Spanish virologists I can tell you that we have all called the Spanish flu since.

An article in a 2008 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases follows the extensive coverage of influenza in the uncensored Spanish media. In May 1918, the ABC newspaper in Madrid was in the headlines. It was attributed to the annual holidays of Madrid, during which people found themselves in close contact in ballrooms and parties. Soon, King Alfonso XIII fell ill, as did the Prime Minister and the epidemic reinvented ("The prevailing epidemic") has become the daily feed of information. Although the flu hits people dramatically, the mortality was initially low and the flu became known as Soldado de Nápolesnamed for a catchy Spanish song popular at the time. However, it soon became clear that this flu was not about laughter.

The most accurate name in the blame game would probably be the "world war flu" – or the "politician". Influenza."

Although the relatively free Spanish press and its great interest in influenza led to its association with the flu, the country was far from the hardest or the first touched. Spain's mortality rate (120 per 10,000 population) was lower than that of Italy and Portugal among European countries included in a 2009 article published in Influenza and other respiratory viruses. In fact, although cases were reported in May, Spain's official "pandemic period" only began in June 1918, whereas Finland's "pandemic period" began in January and that of Germany. , Bulgaria and Portugal started in March. To date, the exact origin of the 1918 H1N1 virus has not been agreed upon. Previous research has suggested China, France and even Kansas as potential sources, but according to the above-mentioned study on the mortality burden in Europe, it was probably not Europe: the authors conclude that "the synchronism of the waves of mortality in the different countries … pleads against the European origin of the pandemic, as it is had sometimes supposed. It is currently believed that the flu has reached Spain via France.

The most accurate name in the blame game would probably be "world war flu" or "flu of politicians". As Oxford points out BackstoryPoliticians are largely responsible for the millions of deaths caused by the flu. It would not have been so deadly without the war and the large number of soldiers concentrated in Europe. "I've put myself at the feet of politicians," he said. "Without war, the pandemic would not have occurred." When the war ended and the troops began to return to their various corners of the globe, the flu came with them, spreading exceptionally quickly for 1918. Its exact origin is still unknown. The scope of the war was clearly attributable to its scope. In addition, wartime censorship has taken communities by surprise, while war conditions characterized by poor nutrition and sanitation have probably inflated the death rate.

Europe was hit hard early, but the whole world really suffered. The United States has done better than the others: according to the report on the burden of mortality in Europe, the number of deaths in the United States is between 400,000 and 675,000, barely 0.47% of the population (compared to 1.1% in Europe). Other countries have not had that chance. The flu killed between 902,400 and 2,431,000 Iranians, or between 8 and 21 percent of Iran's total population. According to estimates, the pandemic has killed up to 17 million people in India; 1.5 million in Indonesia; 400,000 in France; 390,000 in Japan; 250,000 in Great Britain; and 100,000 in Ghana. One of the most affected areas was about as far from the war as possible: Pacific Islanders were among the deadliest, with Tonga, Tahiti, Nauru and Western Samoa losing much of their population in a few months (Western Samoa lost 20% of its population in less than two months). This, along with the tragically high death rate among the Maori and Native American populations, is partly due to the drop in past exposure rates: their "naïve" immune system.

What does all this mean for the next global pandemic, what many scientists – including members of the next panel on future time – consider inevitable? The world is much more connected than before, both physically and technologically, but will globalism hurt us or help us? "In some ways we are in good shape and very bad," said Rebecca Katz, Georgetown Global Health Professor and Pandemic Consultant to the State Department. She points out that during the summer, we had one of the busiest days of travel in history, with more than 202,000 flights. "We travel the world fairly quickly, which means that everything that emerges from one part of the world can be anywhere within 24 to 36 hours." Katz adds that our highly urban society and Aging, as well as increasing population and food trade, also add to make the world of today particularly vulnerable to a deadly respiratory virus. But not everything is bad. "On the positive side, our medical care is much more advanced, our ability to produce medical countermeasures is much more advanced, our ability to treat secondary bacterial infections is much more advanced," she added.

However, there is really no way to contain the spread of Spanish flu in today's world. (In an article for Future Tense, Bina Venkataraman explores the history, inefficiency, and stigma of forced quarantine.) When the next deadly flu hits, very few places on Earth will be safe – when I ask At Katz, what would be the safest place a world pandemic was to break out tomorrow, she suggests the moon. Hopefully, unless World War III breaks out, such a flu will not be known to the country's press who was free enough to cover it first. Whatever the origin of this disease, whatever it may be, one thing is certain: the 1918 pandemic will always be known as the Spanish flu. Sorry, Spain.