Spanish Flu Research Paper

The Spanish flu of 1918-1919 was the worst global disaster in the American history, it killed more people in one year than twenty four years of AIDS from 1980 to 2004. The Spanish flu was an infectious disease caused by the (H1N1) virus. The pandemic led to important developments in medicine, for example the efficiency of vaccinations. This research essay will firstly consider the epidemiology of the Spanish flu in the united states between 1918 and 1919, then it will examine its treatment and prevention.

To begin with, normal epidemics usually kill the elderly and young children who own weaker immune systems. The H1N1 flu was mostly deadly for healthy young adults ages between 15 and 35 who own more resistant immune systems, which means that there is a strong correlation between the risk of being infected by the H1N1 virus and the patient’s age not gender. (Figure 1) . Furthermore, modern research made by a pathologist named Johan Hultin, has concluded that the virus of the Spanish flu worked by fighting the body’s immune system and turning it against its owner. In 1918, right after WW1, American soldiers were having military training camps
They discovered that the disease had been disastrous in specific regions, the reason was that humidity fostered the spread of bacteria and viruses (Billings, 2005). In Japan about 350,000 people got infected by the Spanish flu whereas in the United States the rate of infection was twice more. The H1N1 flu occurred through three waves in the United States from March 1918 to April 1919, the first one was dangerous for elderly and sick people unlike healthy young adults who recovered quickly. The second wave started in September 1918, it was fatal for young adults and the pandemic spread worldwide causing approximately 80 million deaths. The last wave began in December 1918 and it was similar to the