He turns the corner quickly, the package under his arm. Rain beats a rhythm around him, but not one he can afford to listen to. There are still the ill to tend for, the injured everywhere — broken men of the Great War. It is a wet and cold day in October, a specter of the brilliant spring earlier that year, when all the world's anguish seemed so far away. As he turns, he adjusts the mask upon his face, and the coat of his uniform. He will live another day, he decides, in the frightful shadow of the Spanish Influenza; he does not fear that which he cannot see. But his mask does not come off; he holds it in place against the wind. Carefully, he adjusts the package in his arms and walks, quickly now, against the current of the disease that could tear young men down with more ease than the endless shells and gases of the battlefront. Another day, he thinks. Another day for the hope of another day.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
— Albert Einstein
The "Spanish Influenza" outbreak of 1918-1920 was a severe and silent killer, a remnant of death brought from the trenches by the soldiers who had battled there, trying to hold the Western Front. In less than a year, it is estimated that the pandemic "may have killed as many as 25 million in its first 25 weeks" — a number associated with the fatalities of AIDS over 25 years. Part of the reason for its spread was the excellent transportation of that era. Planes, trains, and automobiles carried millions to their destinations across the country and served as a catalyst in spreading the contagion. If it was a threat then, imagine what a similar outbreak could do now, with our constant interaction.
What set that particular strain of influenza apart from prior epidemics was that it did not attack its victims in the same way. It used their bodies against them. A BBC report on the HI51 virus (the 1918 influenza strain) revealed the following:
However, it is not the virus that is directly causing the damage to the lungs - it is the body's own response to infection.
Immune system proteins that can damage infected tissue were found at much higher levels following H1N1 infection compared with other viral infections.
We associate the flu with winter, with cold. The epidemic of 1918 struck in the warmer months of the year. We also imagine that adults, the elderly, and young children will be most at risk. The "Spanish Flu" attacked the young and able-bodied. America, and the world, remained entirely unprepared for such a tremendous battle. A war — the Great War, no less — had just left millions of the world's young men dead in trenches and holes across Europe, in fields where life would one day grow again. Now, it stood with the possibility of losing them all.
We have learned few lessons from that period of terror, it seems, what with the avian flu across the waters and our subdued reaction to it. Perhaps we believe that what our ancestors experienced then, in 1918, could not possibly be repeated. Almost a century later, we know that to be false. Why, then, do we believe ourselves to be safe on our continent while the citizens of southeast Asia destroy entire flocks of fowl to save their families? Media hype has once again destroyed our caution. We make limited arrangements for hurricane season, even after Rita; as for the avian flu, we make no preparations at all.
The resurgence of the epidemic: 2002 — present
About five years ago, I went to India with my mom. At the airport in Bombay, we were forced to wear masks over our noses and mouths; I had trouble distinguishing whether it was for our protection or theirs, we Americans being the "infectious little bastards" that we are. The threat, at that time, was SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a disease characterized by flu-like symptoms, shortness of breath, and a high fever. What made SARS the scariest disease yet was that it could not be fought by antibiotics. Experimentation that occurred as late as 2006, when the epidemic was "over", found that no therapies or medicines had effectively helped patients. In short, even with the discovery of a coronavirus that could have caused the epidemic, nothing could be done.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu incites the same fears that SARS does, with a wider threat. The virus can travel from bird to bird, impairing a major industry and food source of the east, and eventually from bird to human — that is, humans who have contact with infected birds. The disease has not yet been able to travel from human to human, which is the primary source of hysteria for those who follow the disease — that last wall before a terrible pandemic. We have been told to compare H5N1 to the outbreak of 1918 (there is some speculation that the Spanish Influenza could have been spread by birds, although the human-to-human contact is responsible for most of the deaths regardless) in severity. But could there truly be another pandemic of such enormous loss of life?
We have been kept alert by the media for a danger that may never come. How many times must we be told that there is a wolf at our doorstep, when in all likelihood, there may never be one. The dangers of bird flu exist in its ability to mutate into something we are not prepared for at all. But as Dr. Andrew Weil of Time Magazine says:
Much has been made of the virulence and lethality of the avian-flu virus, but new findings suggest that mild and asymptomatic infections in humans may have gone unnoticed; the virus may turn out to be far less deadly than we have been led to believe. Even if it does mutate into a more transmissible form, its virulence would probably diminish over time. That is the general pattern of all influenza pandemics, including the terrible one of 1918.
So, by that logic, what can we do but wait for the "next big one"? It's a rather disconcerting set of opinions we're faced with, and with life on the line, I'm not particularly sure I can trust any of them.
Read 6 comments (Leave a comment?)
Rohit said:
Now I am scared.
Posted on February 27, 2007 7:11 PM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
I believe I posted something regarding this issue in your entry here:
http://www.biscuitrat.trap17.com/archives/commentary/everychildand_beast.php
Posted on March 1, 2007 12:54 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
I did, good point. Now I can link to it >:D
Posted on March 1, 2007 6:54 PM; Permalink
Shantesh Patil said:
hey came across ur site on the cssmania.com gallery.. Gorgeusly designed site
Posted on March 6, 2007 6:30 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thank you! I saw the CSS Mania link yesterday, and I was amazed. Thanks to you who and whoever nominated me; it made me feel warm and fuzzy :D
Posted on March 6, 2007 5:13 PM; Permalink
Rohit said:
But the header bg is still not seamless :(
Posted on March 9, 2007 3:18 AM; Permalink