The 1918 flu pandemic, otherwise known as Spanish Flu, was an unusually fatal influenza pandemic which struck the lives of many between January 1918-December 1920. It's said to have been recorded as the most devastating outbreak in world history. This influenza received its notorious name from the exceptional number of deaths in Spain, supposedly killing eight million. This viral epidemic operated very strangely; seeming to target the young and healthy, being particularly deadly to 20 to 35 years olds due to their stronger immune systems. It distributed very quickly around the world, infecting up to 500 million people and killing upwards of five percent of the world's population. It is said that this flu killed
more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, and more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. The victims of the Spanish Flu suffered greatly. Within hours of feeling the first symptoms of extreme fatigue, fever, and headache, victims would start turning blue. In certain cases the blue would become so pronounced that it was difficult to determine a patient's original skin color. Some patients would cough with such force that their abdominal muscles would tear. Blood exited from mouths and noses, a few from their ears, and some vomitting was noted. Many of it's victims died within hours of coming down with their first symptom, some died a day or two after realizing they were infected. Although it killed many people in Spain and the greater European areas, Spanish Flu was a global pandemic. It began during the spring time in Europe and made it's way to America by fall, which then caused it to be worldwide. The American troops were among the first ones to be exposed to this disease, causing hospitals all across America to be filled with dying soldiers. No one knew for sure where this deadly virus came from there have been guesses, such as Haskell County, Kansas, Asia, and a British Army post in France. After recent studies it is said that the source of the disease came from a specific army camp in Kansas.