1. Orígenes y Realidades de la Gripe de 1918.
La mal llamada "gripe española" tuvo sus raíces probables en campamentos militares de Estados Unidos y se propagó debido a los movimientos de tropas durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, siendo España el único país que informó abiertamente debido a su neutralidad.
- The 1918 pandemic, known as the spanish flu, likely originated in the u.s., with early severe cases in haskell county, kansas in early 1918, spreading via military camps like camp funston to troops moving to europe.
- The spanish were first to write about it due to war censorship in other countries.
- The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more u.s. Soldiers than world war i combat. Disease can be a greater threat to armies than battlefields.
2. El Fenómeno de la Amnesia Colectiva.
Históricamente, las sociedades tienden a borrar el recuerdo de las pandemias de su memoria cultural, prefiriendo enfocarse en conflictos bélicos o periodos de prosperidad económica, lo que deja a las generaciones futuras desprotegidas.
- Society always tries to forget pandemics because we dont like remembering when we were ill. Its why the spanish flu killing more people than ww1 was the type of factoid only nerds knew.
- The 1918 pandemic was already forgotten by the 1970s, if not earlier. No american high-school student ever heard about this in their us history class.
- I used to wonder why i never heard much about the 1918 flu pandemic. So many dead, but nary a ripple on the cultural landscape. Now i know.
3. Paralelismos entre el Pasado y el Presente.
Las reacciones sociales ante el COVID-19, incluyendo las disputas por el uso de mascarillas, el escepticismo ante la ciencia y la desinformación, reflejan casi exactamente los patrones de comportamiento observados hace un siglo.
- Watching a video on the 1918 flu pandemic and its wild that the same shit that was happening in 2020 also happened then.
- They were shocked to see almost exactly the same divisions over masking, distancing, medicine, and science a century before. It was actually somewhat creepy to see history repeating.
- The 1918 influenza pandemic killed healthy young adults as well as elderly and infants w-shaped mortality curve instead of u. You cant predict what a novel virus will do!
4. Impacto Demográfico y Respuestas Inmunitarias.
A diferencia de otros virus estacionales, la cepa de 1918 fue particularmente letal para adultos jóvenes y saludables debido a reacciones inmunitarias extremas conocidas como tormentas de citoquinas.
- The 1918 flu pandemic specifically attacked and killed the healthiest people. Like, strapping 18 year old farmboys died in droves.
- The 1918 global flu pandemic killed a lot of younger people with healthy immune systems because their systems overreacted to the virus and caused them to drown in their own fluids.
- In most cases a healthy and overly aggressive immune system response cytokine storm caused organ failure and death. Many covid deaths have been attributed to the same.
5. Avances Científicos y Reconstrucción Viral.
La ciencia moderna ha logrado secuenciar y reconstruir el genoma del virus de 1918 a partir de muestras históricas, proporcionando información crítica para la preparación ante futuras amenazas pandémicas.
- Scientists have recovered the 1st complete 1918 flu genome from switzerland, revealing early mutations linked to human adaptation during the 1st wave of the pandemic.
- Reconstructing 1918 allowed us to study transmission pathogenesis the process by which this virus causes disease. It enabled studies that determined what made this virus capable of causing a generational pandemic.
- The influenza virus was not discovered until 1933. Claiming the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab leak is like claiming the confederacy lost the civil war because the union had a better air force.
6. Consecuencias a Largo Plazo y Salud Pública.
Las pandemias dejan secuelas duraderas tanto en la salud física de los supervivientes como en la estructura de los sistemas de salud pública, influyendo en la esperanza de vida y en la aparición de enfermedades crónicas.
- The reason so many men had early heart attacks in the 1950s was likely caused by catching the virus behind the 1918 flu pandemic while young.
- The 1918 spanish flu pandemic has been linked to an increased risk of developing parkinsons disease later in life, with studies suggesting that survivors of the flu had a higher incidence of movement disorders.
- The museum of nova scotia has some great info, including this bit explaining the legacy of the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic and how it changed public health going forward.