Otitis

Spanish flu treatment. The Spanish flu is a bloody horror of the past

In terms of the number of victims, this pandemic has left behind even the plague. No one expected that the human immune system's response to a new influenza virus could be so drastic and deadly.

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed approximately 50 million people worldwide. For comparison, 15-16 million died during the First World War.

Unlike seasonal influenza, a pandemic (worldwide epidemic) involves influenza for which people do not have immunity. Instead of affecting older people with weakened immune systems, the 1918 flu was especially deadly among younger people with stronger immune systems.

They were “killed” by their own immune system. According to molecular pathologist Jeffrey Taubenberger, nearly half of all influenza deaths in 1918 were among people 20 to 40 years old. Their immune systems overreacted to the virus and destroyed their lungs with a sharp increase in fluid containing white blood cells.

The first confirmed outbreak of influenza was reported in the United States at a military base in northeastern Kansas on March 11, 1918. Within hours of the first soldier reporting that he was sick, dozens of sick people poured into the infirmary. By the end of the day, hundreds of soldiers had fallen ill. Within a week, 500 people died.

The flu spread across the country at lightning speed. 2 million people were mobilized for the war in Europe. The virus has spread to France, England, Germany and Spain. The battleship King George was unable to go to sea for three weeks in May with 10,313 sick sailors. The virus has spread to India, China, Japan and the rest of Asia. At the end of August, the flu began to rage with renewed vigor in Boston. This time he became even more deadly. Some people dropped dead on the streets, some were able to survive for several days from the moment of infection. The cough was so strong that the lungs burst to the point of bleeding. During the first week of September, approximately 100 people died daily at Camp Devens. One of the camp doctors wrote: “Special trains took away the dead for several days. There were no coffins, and the corpses were piled up. It was a terrible sight to see the long rows of dead young men, killed not in battle.”

In New York, 851 people died in one day. There were so many deaths in San Francisco, Chicago and other cities that funerals were banned because they also attracted large crowds. Navy nurse Josie Brown writes: “The morgues were packed to the ceiling with stacks of corpses. There was no time to treat patients, measure temperature, blood pressure. People had such nosebleeds that blood was shooting all over the room.”

There was no vaccine against the disease. Government officials tried to protect residents, even closing churches. In Ogden, Utah, officials closed entry into the city. No one could enter or move in without a doctor's certificate.
In Alaska, the governor closed the ports and posted guards to protect them. But these measures did not work either. In Arctic Nome, 176,300 Alaska Natives died.

With 195,000 deaths from influenza, October 1918 was the deadliest month in US history. The horrors of the pandemic continued into November, when nearly 115,000 people were infected in California.
Stores canceled New Year's sales, sports matches were canceled, and residents put on gauze masks.

An ambulance transports victims of the Spanish Flu (St. Louis, 1918)

Those who died from the disease are buried on the banks of the Labrador River (Canada)

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed approximately 50 million people worldwide. For comparison, 15-16 million died during the First World War. Unlike seasonal influenza, a pandemic (worldwide epidemic) involves influenza for which people do not have immunity. Instead of affecting older people with weakened immune systems, the 1918 flu was especially deadly among younger people with stronger immune systems. They were “killed” by their own immune system. According to molecular pathologist Jeffrey Taubenberger, nearly half of all influenza deaths in 1918 occurred in people between 20 and 40 years of age. Their immune systems overreacted to the virus and destroyed their lungs with a sharp increase in fluid containing white blood cells.

Spanish flu virus

Spain was the first to declare the disease a pandemic, although its geographic origin remains unknown. Because of the millions of deaths in Spain, the flu was given the name Spanish. There is speculation that the virus may have been circulating around the world for several years before the 1918 pandemic broke out. The first confirmed outbreak of influenza was reported in the United States at a military base in northeastern Kansas on March 11, 1918. A few hours after the first soldier reported that he was sick, dozens of sick people poured into the infirmary. By the end of the day, hundreds of soldiers had fallen ill. Within a week, 500 people died.

By the end of September, 50,000 people in Massachusetts had been infected with the flu. In Philadelphia, after a large meeting of people at which money was collected for the war, 635 people immediately fell ill. To stop the spread of the disease, all churches, schools, theaters and other public places in the city were closed, but in the first week of October, 289 people died on one day. In New York, 851 people died in one day. There were so many deaths in San Francisco, Chicago and other cities that funerals were banned because they also attracted large crowds. Navy nurse Josie Brown writes: “The morgues were packed to the ceiling with stacks of corpses. There was no time to treat patients, measure temperature, blood pressure. People had such nosebleeds that blood was shooting all over the room.”

Attempts to stop the infection

There was no vaccine against the disease. Government officials tried to protect residents, even closing churches. In Ogden, Utah, officials closed entry into the city. No one could enter or move in without a doctor's certificate. In Alaska, the governor closed the ports and posted guards to protect them. But these measures did not work either. In Arctic Nome, 176,300 Alaska Natives died.

With 195,000 deaths from influenza, October 1918 was the deadliest month in US history. The horrors of the pandemic continued into November, when nearly 115,000 people were infected in California. Stores canceled New Year's sales, sports matches were canceled, and residents put on gauze masks.

By the end of 1918, the flu had killed 57,000 American soldiers, dozens of times the death toll in World War I battles. Even Woodrow Wilson contracted the flu during the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles in Paris. Before the pandemic ended, twenty-five percent of all Americans had contracted the virus. The result of the Spanish Flu was that the average life expectancy in the United States decreased by 12 years.

What are the most terrible diseases of humanity you can name? AIDS, cancer, hepatitis or diabetes, perhaps? Yes, all these ailments are certainly considered to be some of the most terrible and incurable diseases on Earth. All of them are the scourge of our society, and modern medicine often loses to them in the fight for human life. But even they may seem like naive baby talk along with the nightmares that our great-grandfathers experienced. Terrifying pandemics have swept through the world more than once in a deadly wave, claiming hundreds of millions of lives. They are mentioned reluctantly, because everything is under control... today. They are a silent reminder of how defenseless and helpless people are. Today we will mention one of the most terrible “killers” of the past: a tiny, invisible virus that claimed millions of lives in a matter of months. The killer, who burst into the lives of millions with lightning speed and just as unexpectedly disappeared, went down in history under the name “Spanish flu”.

Once Upon a Time in America

And this was back in 1918. A Kansas resident suddenly felt unwell. Nothing unusual: malaise, fever and headaches are typical symptoms of the flu. But then things went wrong: after a few hours the temperature was extremely high, the skin turned blue, the cough became simply terrifying, and soon the man died, choking on his own blood. While those around him were trying to understand what happened to him, reports of similar cases began to pour in from everywhere. People became infected with lightning speed and died just as quickly, within one to three days. The Spanish flu disease was voracious: one patient could infect a hundred people, and this during the first day of his illness. It was simply impossible to predict who would get sick and when. Within a week, the Spanish flu disease had spread throughout all states of America. It absorbed more and more new territories in geometric progression. Panic grew rapidly among residents and doctors. There was no antidote, no immunity, no medicine, by the way, at that time there was not even penicillin yet. No one could understand what was happening: was it poisoning with a deadly poison, an illness, or a curse from an angry God?

Unpredictable and merciless

"Spanish flu" is a disease that is actually caused by an atypical strain of influenza. But, unlike the illness that we all experience almost every winter, it was many times stronger and proceeded very quickly. Most of the infected died within the first day. Sometimes a person's skin changed its color so that it was impossible to understand whether the patient had fair skin or was black. The cough was so strong that internal organs and even muscles ruptured - people choked on their own blood. But there was something that distinguished the Spanish flu from the regular flu. Each of us knows: the younger you are, the stronger you are, and the stronger your immune system, the less chance you have of getting sick. And if this happens, recovery will come quickly. “Spanish flu” is a disease that causes death especially in people in good health; it “loves” young people aged 20-40 years. But she spared the elderly, children and people with poor health. Sometimes the Spanish flu was expressed only in a slight malaise, and sometimes it was acute, but after 3 days it gradually receded, giving immunity to the person who had recovered from the disease. In fact, each of us today has such protection to some extent, because we are the descendants of people who once survived this pandemic.

Virus on the warpath

Trouble does not come alone - this statement can be safely applied to the Spanish flu virus. It appeared in 1918, and this is the end of the First World War. It is still not known for certain whether the strain appeared naturally or was created artificially as a means of mass destruction, and something simply got out of control. She became the common enemy of the warring countries, did not spare anyone, and, it seemed, the war itself was only to her advantage. Thanks to the movement of troops across continents, the “Spanish flu” (disease) quickly spread throughout the world. Photos from those times resemble scenes from horror films. The corpses of people were burned en masse or buried in huge mass graves. No one went outside without a mask, absolutely all public places were closed. Even churches - the last refuges of hope and faith - no longer waited for their parishioners.

Why "Spanish flu"?

Many countries were drawn into the First World War. When they were overwhelmed by a merciless virus, many decided not to make the situation public. This would completely kill the soldiers’ faith in victory over the enemy, and all people would simply switch to fighting the disease. The only country left "out of action" was Spain. Its government was frightened by the huge number of deaths, and Spain was the first to shout to the whole world that its inhabitants were being killed by an unprecedented disease. This is how the name “Spanish flu” was assigned to this strain of influenza, although the virus actually originated from America.

Global killer

The Spanish flu swept across all continents like a tornado and claimed millions of lives. She “lived” on Earth for only a year and a half, and then suddenly... disappeared on her own. The virus mutated into other, milder forms that the human body could already cope with. But this time was enough to take the lives of 5% of the planet's population, and infect about 30%. According to some estimates, about 100 million died from it. For comparison: AIDS claimed so many lives in just a quarter of a century. The Spanish flu spared no one. The disease in Russia has killed more than 3 million people.

Almost a century has passed since the birth of the Spanish flu. Throughout this time, the strain was carefully studied. Medicine has reviewed all possible ways to prevent such a pandemic in the future. The virus did not let us forget about itself, and quite recently - in 2009, an ominous rumble swept across the world: the Spanish flu had returned. At that moment, governments of all countries made every effort to stop the bird flu pandemic, and human losses were small. But what we experienced in the past will forever remain a reminder that humanity, even if it calls itself “the crown of all life,” can easily fall to a tiny silent virus.

Epidemics and pandemics have struck humanity more than once, but the most widespread of them was (and remains) the Spanish flu disease, which swept the whole world. Its varied and numerous symptoms were difficult to diagnose; the disease quickly spread across the planet, mutating several times. Modern medicine has learned to deal with such pathologies - to recognize them in a timely manner and successfully treat them.

Spanish flu disease - what is it?

The Spanish flu is a flu virus that swept through the world's population in the 20th century. Characteristic features of the new pandemic were rapid infectivity and severe symptoms leading to sudden death. That's why the Spanish flu destroyed so many lives and swept the entire globe. As a rule, diseases affect certain categories of the population. For example, people with weakened immune systems suffer more than others: children, the elderly, pregnant women, but the Spanish flu of 1918 spared no one. Half of the deaths occurred in people 20-40 years old, whose immune systems reacted sharply to the virus.

Why was the flu called Spanish flu?

The fact that the Spanish flu is named as such is a factual inaccuracy. An officially registered case of the disease occurred in 1918 in Kansas, and the first country to experience a severe outbreak of this disease was Spain. According to scientists, the primary epidemic focus was in another country, but Spain, which maintained neutrality in the First World War, was not afraid to report the epidemic in the media. News of the virus spreading across the Iberian Peninsula quickly spread around the world.

Spanish flu pandemic

The 1918 Spanish flu was first reported in the United States, but historical evidence indicates that it was brought to North America from Asia, where it appeared two years earlier and was not identified as a separate disease. A disease similar to the H1N1 influenza virus was recorded in the colonial troops of Indochina and China in the 16-18 years of the twentieth century. In all likelihood, virus-stricken Asians who came to America as cheap labor brought the disease with them. Its spread was facilitated by:

Mass movement of troops during war. 2 million mobilized American soldiers, some of whom were infected with influenza, brought the disease, called the Spanish flu, to Europe.
Technical progress of vehicles (ships, trains, airships), which made human contacts more extensive.
Lack of vaccine and lack of medical personnel to control the disease.
Two mutations of one strain. This has been discovered by modern scientists.

Spanish flu - victims of the influenza pandemic

In the 20th century, the Spanish flu virus swept across all continents. Only the island of Marajo in Brazil has not reported outbreaks. Some countries have imposed military rule, closing public places. In the first months of the Spanish flu epidemic, 25 million people died. There was no time to bury people. The mortality rate was 10-20%. It is difficult to name the exact number of sick and dead, but the numbers are as follows:

more than 550 million people infected;
more than 40 million dead, this is about 3% of the population (by some measures more than 100 million or 5.3% of the world's inhabitants).

Spanish flu disease is the causative agent

In the 90s of the twentieth century, American researchers obtained a sample of the 18th year Spanish flu virus from the well-preserved corpse of an Alaskan woman. In 2002, its gene structure was completely restored and it was revealed that Spanish flu is a subtype of the influenza A virus that can cause large-scale epidemics and infect people and animals. Its variability is due to the constant and independent change of surface antigens: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). When both antigens change simultaneously, a new subtype of virus A is formed.

As studies have shown, variant A of the virus was not new to people, and had been circulating in human communities since 1900, and then acquired pandemic proportions. Subsequently, when the wave of diseases subsided, the virus spread to pigs. in 2009 it caused the so-called Swine Flu, then new strains appeared. While Spanish flu is the H1N1 serotype, bird flu is the H5N1 serotype.

Spanish flu disease - symptoms

When infected with influenza, sudden changes in the body affected the respiratory system, and although clinical symptoms in the lungs changed quickly or were completely absent, such general symptoms were observed as:

hemoptysis;
hoarseness;
cough;
purulent sputum.

If it was not possible to diagnose that it was the Spanish flu, the symptoms were supplemented by the development of pneumonia, cyanosis, and in the later stages they were accompanied by bleeding inside the lungs, and the patient choked on his own blood. The kidneys and cardiovascular system were failing. Other symptoms of the Spanish flu - usually sharp, developing rapidly (in the first 3 hours) were:

headache;
weakness;
aching bones;
decrease in blood pressure;
temperature jump;
tachycardia;
vomit;
intoxication of the body.

Spanish flu - treatment

Today, the symptoms of the Spanish flu are not so critically tolerated by humans. The immune system suppresses the virus. Modern medicine copes with influenza of this subtype using therapy that has a regulating effect on the immune system. Spanish flu or Spanish flu can be easily cured in a hospital setting. In this case, no fatal complications are observed.

Treatment measures are as follows:

Bed rest, no exercise.
Taking antiviral drugs (Amiksin, Lavomax, Tsitovir).
Taking vitamin C and vitamins for the heart (Asparkam, Vitrum Cardio).
Drink plenty of fluids.
If necessary, antipyretics and antihistamines (Nurofen, Paracetamol, Tavegil).
Medicines for sputum discharge (Bromhexine, Lazolvan).

Could the Spanish flu epidemic happen again?

It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu epidemic claimed millions of lives. Much has changed: medicine has made great progress, the standard of living has increased, although infectious diseases still pose a danger. Seasonal ones are able to fight two proteins of the influenza virus, and are not always effective against the mutation of individual strains. Some scientists believe that the flu has not completely disappeared and may yet return. But people will be ready for this: they will take measures to prevent the spread of infection, the occurrence of complications and eliminate signs of the disease with the help of medications.

Even a century later, memories of the Spanish flu, which raged in every country on every continent, are still fresh. A large-scale pandemic caused the death of millions of people, but people drew conclusions and learned to fight influenza viruses. Therefore, the deadly disease Spanish flu is not scary for modern people. Preventing the flu is a reliable way to protect yourself from it.

The Spanish Flu managed to send more people to the next world in just one year than two world wars.

Vlad Smirnov

In some countries it was called the “blue death”: in the terminal stages of the disease, people’s faces inexplicably turned blue. You probably know another, more innocent name for this disease. We are talking about the Spanish flu, a particularly dangerous form of influenza that is estimated to have claimed between 50 and 100 million lives in the early 20th century.

Where it came from and where it quickly disappeared are mysteries that concern modern virologists, and in our country, at the height of the next cold season, they cause, ahem, healthy curiosity.

Patient zero

The story is believed to have begun on the cold morning of March 11 at the Funston military training camp in northern Kansas. A local cook, whose name was Albert Gitchell, woke up with an unbearable sore throat. Trying to get out of his bed in the barracks, he realized that his head was burning and the preparation of breakfast was cancelled. I had to surrender to the doctors. Albert staggered to the medical unit. There, doctors measured his temperature at about forty and hastily sent him to the isolation ward.

As soon as the thermometer was taken out of the cook’s mouth, the next patient with the same symptoms burst into the first-aid post. Then another and another... By noon, Funston Hospital was home to 107 coughing, sneezing, shivering patients. Chef Albert did a great job*.

Some scientists admit, yes, admit, that in fact patient zero was not Gitchell at all, but an unknown pig (or rather pig) whose life came to an untimely end in the military kitchen of Camp Funston. During execution, so to speak. It has been proven that the strain of the H1N1 virus that caused the Spanish flu was a type of swine flu.

What happened to him next? By a happy coincidence, Albert, the most likely candidate for the title of Patient Zero during the 1918 epidemic, recovered and lived an unremarkably long life. He did not even suspect that, as some journalists later wrote, “5% of the world’s population died from one of his sneezes.” Researchers established Albert's role only in the 60s. He was lucky: in March 1918, the virus, although extremely contagious, had not yet reached its full lethal force.

Yes, at Camp Funston, more than five hundred military personnel fell ill with severe flu, and several people died. However, this was quite common in the early 20th century. Therefore, recovering and even slightly coughing soldiers from Funston were easily sent to other units and further for their intended purpose - to the fronts of the First World War. It was in Europe that the Spanish flu got its name and acquired an unprecedented, terrifying scope.

"Blue Death"

On June 29, 1918, the Spanish Inspector General of Health made a report to the government. He announced that the country was engulfed in an epidemic of an unknown disease. It is not clear why the Spaniards angered God so much, but they seem to be the only ones in Europe who suffered this misfortune. The disease began as a common cold, but soon, and sometimes the very next day, the patient’s hands, face, and feet acquired a frightening blue color, after which the person’s throat and nose began to bleed and he died.

Pathologists reported that what they saw during the autopsy of the corpses turned out to be much worse than the external symptoms. By and large, the disease affected almost all the internal organs of a person, which became inflamed and ceased to function.

The infection spread with terrifying speed and knew no barriers (even the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, fell ill). Fortunately, approximately 5% of cases were fatal. However, due to the massive infection rate, which reached 90% in personal contact, people were incredibly scared.

Spanish newspapers rang all the bells. Schools were closed, mass gatherings were banned, and people without a gauze mask were not allowed on public transport. The whole world discussed this news with horror. This is how the new disease received the name “Spanish flu”.

However, the truth was that this same disease had long been raging on the front lines of the First World War - in the trenches and hospitals, among American, French, British and German soldiers. It’s just that the countries involved in the military conflict hid their plight so as not to demoralize the army, but neutral and honest Spain turned out to be a scapegoat.

In October 1918, the epidemic gained full force and spread to virtually all countries of the world: soldiers moved along the fronts, returned home and brought an unexpected gift from Europe.

The only place on Earth where not a single case of Spanish flu has been reported is the Brazilian island of Marajo in the Amazon delta. Also in Japan, thanks to timely quarantine, during which ships were not allowed into the country at all, a record low number of cases was noted.

But in some countries, due to general overpopulation and poor development of medicine, the epidemic has reaped an unprecedented harvest. In India, about 17 million people died, accounting for 5% of the population, in Iran 21% of the population died, in Samoa - 22%. In general, about a quarter of all humanity has been infected with the Spanish flu. The worst thing was that during ordinary epidemics, the weakest, the elderly and children, were at risk, but the “blue death” took the strongest: 20–30-year-old family breadwinners and women of active childbearing age. It looked like a supernatural curse on humanity.

Famous victims of the Spanish flu

Vera Kholodnaya

The quick and unexpected death of the popular actress from “pneumonic plague” in February 1919 gave rise to many rumors and speculation. It was considered especially suspicious that her funeral service took place at night and not during the day. Fans suspected that the silent film star was poisoned by poisonous lilies sent to her by her lover, the French consul, when he learned that Kholodnaya was spying for the Bolsheviks. However, the infernal appearance of the actress in the coffin and the severe course of the disease are fully explained by modern knowledge about the Spanish flu epidemic.

Gustav Klimt

The Austrian artist died of influenza in Vienna at the age of 56. The illness was sudden and very serious: after the master’s death, many unfinished paintings remained. By the way, the date of the artist’s death confirms the alternative version that the Spanish flu was rampant in Europe even before its appearance in the American military camp: Klimt died on February 6, 1918.

Guillaume Apollinaire

The avant-garde poet was a classic victim of the Spanish flu. He fought on the front of the First World War, was wounded by shrapnel and had a long recovery. During the process of recovery, by the way, the word “surrealism” came into his broken head for the first time. However, Guillaume never fully recovered. In November 1918, at the height of the epidemic, he fell ill and died suddenly.

Secrets of the Spanish woman

Now that you're a little prepared, we're going to tell you something truly creepy. In 1997, pathologist Johan Hultin, who has been called the Indiana Jones of modern biology, dug up the body of a woman who died from the Spanish flu in 1918 in permafrost in Alaska. Due to her curpulent physique, this woman’s lungs were preserved almost in their original form. American scientists from the Military Institute of Pathology managed to isolate the “blue death” virus and achieved its replication in 2005.

Currently, samples are stored in several laboratories at once. This event became a milestone in world virology. Firstly, scientists now believe that the most likely cause of the next global pandemic will be a laboratory error, as a result of which the Spanish flu virus, plague or some other exotic infection, revived for research purposes, breaks out. And secondly, many secrets of the “blue death” were revealed.

Let's start with the fact that it became clear why the Spanish flu turned out to be fatal for the healthiest and strongest part of humanity. The virus caused a so-called cytokine storm in the victims’ bodies, a hyperreaction of the immune system that triggered general tissue inflammation. When testing some modern immunomodulatory drugs, doctors found a similar effect.

Figuratively speaking, during a cytokine storm, our defense system panics and, in an attempt to destroy the harmful invader, blows up its own territory with a nuclear bomb. People with strong immunity, who have really powerful bombs in their arsenal, and not grenades with a rusty pin or children's caps, are the most vulnerable.

The same thing happens to Ebola patients in the final stages. However, Ebola is contagious only when its symptoms are already obvious, but the Spanish flu, like any cold, began to be transmitted several days before the patient’s health worsened. In this sense, the “blue death” looks like a real alien weapon, which in a year has completely cut out the healthiest and most viable part of humanity...

Perhaps it is not surprising that our pre-revolutionary grandfathers could drink pure alcohol and eat it on nails, while their pampered descendants catch a cold from the air conditioning at a five-star resort.

There is another interesting theory that explains why the 50- and 60-year-old generation was surprisingly resistant to the H1N1 flu strain that caused the 1918 epidemic. The point here is a peculiar feature of our growing up, which is called imprinting. It manifests itself in different areas. In a global sense, this is the assimilation of certain patterns of behavior, reactions and self-identification, which occurs in the first years of life. That is why a person raised by monkeys considers himself a monkey, and the scion of a professorial family feels uncomfortable without a bookcase in the red corner of his home.

At the microbiological level, imprinting shapes our immunity, and the diseases we encountered in childhood are especially easily tolerated in adulthood. In 1918, elderly Europeans were lucky: they were already familiar with H1N1, the very strain of influenza that caused the Spanish flu. Just imagine, in the 70s of the 19th century it was called the “Russian cold”* and swept from Madrid to London in the form of a moderate illness.

Attaching national labels to diseases has never gone out of fashion. Consider, for example, the “French runny nose,” which, as you know, was called syphilis.

Deadly mutation

Here we come to the main mystery of the Spanish flu. Why did an ordinary flu virus, known to mankind for a long time, suddenly mutate into such a monstrous, deadly form? Was this an accident from which we are not immune in the future? Finally, why did the deadly virus, having spread throughout the globe in the fall of 1918, mysteriously disappear in the winter?

Virologists believe that the main cause of the deadly mutation was the First World War. Under standard conditions, the influenza virus changes to cause moderate harm to the host. It is beneficial for the disease for an infected person to remain on his feet for as long as possible, lead a socially active life, armed with a handkerchief, go to work and sneeze on his colleagues there. It is this kind of flu that spreads widely every autumn, because, to put it in bandit language, it does not spread.

However, in 1918 a completely different situation arose. In the trenches and hospitals, the social activity of the sick did not depend in any way on their well-being; moreover, only the healthiest and strongest individuals, battle-hardened, were present there. It was beneficial to spread especially active and deadly mutations of the virus, which did not stand on ceremony with their “masters”: they could still die at any moment from a bullet, pneumonia, hunger and other war horrors.

In military reality, the most brutal, unprincipled, cruel human beings survived. Exactly the same biological selection took place among viruses. As a result, the influenza “supervirus” has spread, especially rapidly multiplying, merciless and causing the human immune system to choke in horror.

However, with the same inevitability with which a country led by an arrogant tyrant collapses, the supervirus led to the disappearance of the environment that gave birth to it. Historians acknowledge that the end of the First World War was largely caused by the Spanish flu pandemic. The disease left no one on their feet who could conduct military operations. Exhausted armies on both sides were forced to conclude a truce, and the soldiers began to return home. At first, this led to a new wave of the spread of the deadly virus and huge casualties, but soon contributed to its disappearance. Effective sanitary measures carried out by governments of different countries, isolation of the sick, and in some communities the extinction of the age categories of the population most susceptible to the Spanish flu led to the attenuation of the pandemic.

All this leads to a rather reassuring conclusion. It must be assumed that unless humanity starts another global low-budget conflict in the trenches (which seems unlikely given current military budgets), we are most likely not in danger of the emergence of a super influenza virus - at least through natural mutation. First of all, this is disadvantageous for the flu itself.