To the general population, science seems like a field that consists of facts and certainty. However, this could not be further from the truth. The life’s work of a scientist can be taken away in an instant. In a passage from “The Great Influenza,” John M. Barry expresses that the success of a scientist depends on their capacity to handle challenges. Using ethos, extended metaphor, and rhetorical questions, Barry characterizes science as a path of uncertainty.…
During a passage from the Great Influenza, author John M. Barry discusses the qualifications a scientific researcher must yield in order to be efficient to the field and perform intelligent guesswork. Appealing to inspiring scientists, Barry insists that they have to “manipulate and even force experiments to yield and answer.” Without the ability to work with uncertainty, no work done will be enough to illuminate the subject. Through juxtaposition uncertainty and certainty in this professional field, Barry showcases the classifications of scientists with analogies and metaphors in a catalogue form. Barry begins by promptly identifying the counter argument; how uncertainty is a weakness for a scientist.…
The Spanish Influenza of 1918-19 had little influence on the social changes of the 1920’s. For example, the Spanish Influenza pandemic got so bad that there were flu ordinances passed in order to prevent the spread of the disease. The Spanish Influenza influenced social changes through the flu ordinances because people had to start following certain rules. Things got so bad that the health department started giving out gauze masks and funerals could only last for 15 minutes. Some towns even required a signed certificate for passengers to enter.…
Another reason that the flu had such a severe impact on the U.S. military is because of the way that the military was structured and arranged during World War I. In her article, “The U.S. military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919”, Carol Byerly gives information about the organization of the military into camps. Byerly uses the example of Camp Devens in Massachusetts to show how seriously the epidemic affected military camps. According to Byerly, the flu spread over the course of only ten days to infect more than 15% of the soldiers stationed there. This was similar to Fort Shelby, where almost every new recruit became sick. Researchers such as Victor C. Vaughan, the Dean of the University of Michigan School of Medicine, and Rufus Cole,…
The Spanish Flu of 1918 was an influenza that swept the globe killing more people then World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. The virus’s victims were between the ages of nineteen and twenty eight, an unusual range compared to expected ages of deaths from a normal flu. The Forsete, a ship that set sail from Norway’s northern coast, was hit with an outbreak of the Spanish Flu on September 21, 1918. Within the next two weeks, seven people died, and were buried in Longyearbyen, the arrival site of the Forsete. Kristy Duncan, a Canadian Geographer, set up an expedition to go to the grave site of these seven men in Longyearbyen. These men may very well be intact, cryogenically preserved, and may still be carrying…
The main change in the treatment of Influenza over time was the development of the Flu vaccine, which reduces the risk of the pathogen infecting you by 50% - 60%. This and the develop of Adamantamine which was the first antiviral drug to have a potent enough effect against any virus. These new technologies were made possible by the ability that technology has given scientists to share their research. The idea of the flu vaccine only came about because of the development of vaccines of other diseases. This new technology would have given Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis the help they needed to invent the flu vaccine.…
1918 Influenza Pandemic: In 1918, a highly contagious and deadly strain of the influenza spread. It killed more than half a million Americans. Although much work was being done to improve public health, there were not any tools useful in combating the influenza spread. The origin of the flu remains unknown. The virus arrived at the battlefields in France and the U.S. military camps before reaching the urban population.…
John M. Barry uncovers the epic story of the horrible pandemic of 1918, one that killed as many as 100 million people across the world. Barry utilizes his journalistic skills and considerable medical research to share the story of the influenza and shed light on those who were caught up in the gruesome fight. The result is an in-depth, incredible narrative of the times and events shaped by the plague.…
In the beginning of the outbreak of influenza know as “the Spanish flu,” Americans were willing to accept public health officials guidance in the early weeks of the crisis. Most looked at the public health officials as hope and a cure to the sickness. As months passed, these officials were not successful in containing the flu. Americans had grown impatient and resistant against their help toward the public.…
influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.…
Many governments took efforts to stop the spreading of the flu in 1918. The…
During the year of 1918 the movement of troops during WWI spread the Influenza disease. Influenza arrived in the United States at a perfect timing when there many new forms of transportation, media, consumption and warfare had expanded into public places where diseases could spread more easily. The new forms of transportation really impacted the U.S. and why so many people easily contracted the disease. I will analyze two letters written to friends by a doctor and nurse to show some of the conditions and duties they had to endure during the pandemic of 1918. This letter was written by doctor, N.R. Grist.…
Many government took efforts to stop the spreading of the flu in 1918. Some tried to promote public health and boost morale by framing the flu as a “metaphor…
Influenza affects an estimated 5-15% of the world 's population and results in 500,000 deaths annually (World Health Organization, [WHO], 2009b). In the United States (US), between 1979 and 2001, an average of 226,000 persons was hospitalized and 36,000 died each year as a result of complications from influenza (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2007). The primary and most effective method of symptom reduction and prevention of influenza is vaccination (Sullivan, 2010). Influenza vaccination…
In the years of 1918 to 1919 deadly history was happening it was the flu pandemic it ended up killing an estimated 500 million people. The flu was first identified in Europe then swiftly it spread to the United States and Asia. One observation was that…