Just the Flu

Recently I read an article in Rolling Stone concerning a "killer flu". I was skeptical to this because, ya know, it's just the flu. But after the first sentence, I was sucked in by a detailed description of a horrific world, where once busy streets were empty and people were unaware that any and everyone they know may very well be dead of a new strain of flu. What made this scene all the more scary was the fact that it wasn't some figment of a horror writer's imagination but was actually a very real event that has a very possible chance of occurring. It has already happened and is known by many names such as The Strain of 1918, The Pandemic of 1918 and 1918 epidemic. This strain wiped out an estimated 25 to 40 million people in 18 months. Nurses making house calls often encountered scenes, reminiscent of the Black Plague, in which whole families were dead or dying. This flu also referred to as the Spanish influenza, is believed by some historians to be what brought the armies of every nation to their knees. The flu of 1918 was biological warfare that held no loyalties to any nation. It seems that two thirds of the deaths of the 1918 strain were healthy people between the ages of 20 to 40. But it seems no one remembers that hard learned lesson of 1918, I had never heard of it myself until reading this article. Recently, a group of scientists have sounded a warning that the flu is overdue for it's next major stain. The flu is a group of viruses and all that is needed to get the virus is to simply inhale the air in which a flu victim has coughed in. The virus will stay in the air as much as hours, making it easy for anyone, including pets and most mammals, to inhale it and be infected. The flu can simply start a change reaction that will easily reach across the world. The Strain of 1918 spread across the united states in 7 days and went world wide in 3 weeks if I recall the numbers correctly. Many scientists admit that another epidemic is inevitable. They have decided the best way to combat the virus would be to monitor for any small strains and begin work on a vaccine at that time. But as it is, the flu monitoring system is not in tip-top shape. There are hardly enough stations around the world and the government is not giving the money to fund these stations. I strongly urge you to write a letter to your congress man or state representative, asking that more funding be given to the World Health Organization to pay for more flu surveillance sites. It should also be noted that a plan for distributing vaccines has already been made. It will start by giving High level governments officials (who don't fund flu surveillance) and members of the military along with police officers, firefighters, doctors, and emergency response teams. Second in line are the elderly, newborns and women in there second or third trimesters of pregnancy. Schoolchildren will be next in line and the lowest priority is people from the ages of 18 to 65 which accounts for most of the population. It should be noted that influenza (the flu) has no respect for social standings. Sooo, that means that guy living in a box down the street and the president both have the same level of risk of getting the disease, only the president gets the vaccine first even though chances are that homeless guy will probably be one of the first and a carrier for the disease, spreading it wherever. To prevent this from happening, as i said before, I strongly urge you to write your congress man and ask him to request more funding for the monitoring of flu strains. We've been told and should take warning, because after all, there's no lesson to learn if there's no one left to learn it.

By Sean X

A picture of a hospital during the 1918 Pandemic

Some parts of this essay were directly copied from the article, "Killer Flu" By Hillary Johnson that ran in Rolling Stone, issue 778, January 22, 1998.

Interested In Learning More? Check These Links

Essay 35: Spanish Flu of 1918

Researchers Pinpoint source of 1918 epedimic

Doctors Hunt For Source Of deadly "bird flu" strain

Influenza-Useful Sites-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

It All Started In Kansas-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

WUTR - It's Your Health-very interesting. recommended for more information of actual virus

Ducks More Lethal Than an Atomic Bomb?-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Inflenza-Box 1-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you look at only one link, make it this one. NOTE: tabs on side lead to influenza related information.