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 manifestations 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.

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 on fire 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 the “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” first came to his broken head. 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 curvaceous 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.

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.

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. 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.”

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.

Five hundred million sick, one hundred million dead - the famous “Spanish flu” raged 100 years ago. Some researchers call the 1918 influenza epidemic the greatest pandemic in human history.

A large-scale epidemic could not help but influence the course of history: for a century now, researchers from various specialties have been studying the consequences of the Spanish Flu, and are also trying to find out why the epidemic acquired such proportions. There were some speculations, myths and misconceptions. What really happened in 1918 and why did it happen?

"Spanish Flu" originated in Spain: no

Despite the fact that the deadly flu is commonly called “Spanish”, this did not happen because the first cases of infection were identified in Spain. According to one of the main versions, due to military censorship in the countries participating in the First World War, the press in Germany, Austria, France and Great Britain did not report on the development of the epidemic. Spain remained neutral, and it was in Spanish newspapers that the first reports of the terrible flu appeared.

Because of this, the opinion spread that it was from Spain that the triumphal march of the disease began around the world. In reality, there is no evidence of this fact - there is an assumption that the flu came from Asian countries or from the USA.

The virus was very dangerous: no

Although some researchers believe that the virus that caused the deadly epidemic was more lethal than most other known strains, several studies suggest that it was actually not very different from the strains that caused the epidemic in other years.

Such a large number of casualties is attributed to poor nutrition and terrible sanitary conditions during the war. It is also believed that many people died from bacterial pneumonia, which arose as a complication of a viral infection.

Modern medicine is powerless against the Spanish flu virus: not really

There really aren’t that many effective antiviral drugs at the moment - mostly treatment for influenza is symptomatic, alleviating the condition of patients.

Researchers have found that many patients who contracted the Spanish flu died as a result of aspirin poisoning. Doctors recommended that sick people take truly huge doses of this drug - up to 30 g per day. Nowadays, a dose not exceeding 4 grams is considered safe. The use of aspirin in such quantities provoked many complications, in particular bleeding.

However, this version is criticized due to the fact that in those regions where aspirin was not prescribed at this dosage, the mortality rate was just as high, which means that taking the drug did not have a significant effect on the number of influenza victims.

The Spanish Flu influenced the course of the war: not quite like that

Participants in hostilities on both sides were infected with the flu and therefore it cannot be said that one of the opponents was weaker than the other due to infection. However, circumstances characteristic of wartime - the simultaneous accumulation of large numbers of people, unsanitary conditions, hunger - contributed to the spread of the virus.

The virus that caused the Spanish flu has not been studied: no

Scientists were able to examine the body of a soldier who contracted the flu during a terrible epidemic. It turned out to be an American soldier buried in Alaska. In 2005, researchers deciphered the sequence of the viral genome. A couple of years later, scientists infected monkeys with this virus, which caused the animals to develop symptoms characteristic of the Spanish flu. In addition, the infection caused hypercytokinemia, also known as a cytokine storm - a strong immune system response that involves releasing huge amounts of cytokines. A cytokine storm affects the entire body, often being lethal. A similar reaction could develop in patients infected with the Spanish flu, also causing their death.

Is such a serious epidemic possible today? Experts argue, but many are inclined to think that now the likelihood of such a large-scale pandemic is still not high. The level of hygiene and sanitation has increased significantly over the century, and people's awareness has also increased - we all know about the need to get vaccinated against the flu.

Doctors and patients know more about how to care for patients and prevent the spread of infection: they know how viruses spread, what complications occur, and antibiotics are used to combat additional bacterial infections.

Despite all this, influenza epidemics occur regularly, claiming human lives every year. However, researchers hope that humanity still managed to draw conclusions, as well as acquire a significant amount of knowledge, so that the “Spanish flu” will not happen again.

In 1918-1919 (18 months), approximately 50-100 million people, or 2.7-5.3% of the world's population, died from the Spanish flu worldwide. About 550 million people, or 29.5% of the world's population, were infected. The epidemic began in the last months of the First World War and quickly eclipsed this largest bloodshed in terms of casualties.

The 2009 influenza pandemic was caused by a virus of the same (A/H1N1) serotype.

Picture of the disease, name “Spanish flu”

In May 1918, 8 million people or 39% of its population were infected in Spain (King Alfonso XIII also suffered from the Spanish flu). Many flu victims were young and healthy people in the 20-40 age group (usually only children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with certain medical conditions are at high risk).

Symptoms of the disease: blue complexion - cyanosis, pneumonia, bloody cough. In later stages of the disease, the virus caused intrapulmonary hemorrhage, which resulted in the patient choking on his own blood. But mostly the disease passed without any symptoms. Some infected people died the day after infection.

Egon Schiele (1890–1918), Public Domain

The flu got its name because Spain was the first to experience a severe outbreak of the disease. According to other sources, it is not yet possible to determine exactly where it appeared, but, most likely, Spain was not the primary epidemic focus.

The name "Spanish flu" appeared by accident. Since the military censorship of the fighting parties during the First World War did not allow reports of the epidemic that had begun in the army and among the population, the first news about it appeared in the press in May-June 1918 in neutral Spain.

Distribution, mortality rate

Through technological progress (trains, airships, high-speed ships), the disease spread very quickly throughout the planet.

In some countries, public places, courts, schools, churches, theaters, and cinemas were closed for a whole year. Sometimes sellers prohibited customers from entering stores. Orders were filled on the street.

Military regime was introduced in some countries. One US city has banned handshakes.

unknown, Public Domain

The only populated place that was not affected by the pandemic was the island of Marajo at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil.

In Cape Town, a train driver reported the death of 6 passengers on a section just 5 km away. In Barcelona, ​​1,200 people died every day. In Australia, a doctor counted 26 funeral processions in one hour on one street alone.

National Museum of Health and Medicine, Public Domain

Entire villages from Alaska to South Africa died out. There were cities where there was not a single healthy doctor left. There weren't even gravediggers left to bury the dead.

U.S. Army photographer, Public Domain

They dug mass graves using a steam excavator. People were buried in dozens without a coffin or funeral service. In its first 25 weeks, the flu killed 25 million people.

The massive movement of troops from World War I countries accelerated the spread of influenza.

Death toll from Spanish flu

The overall result is that the Spanish flu killed 41,835,697 out of 1,476,239,375 people, which is 2.8% (the final figure is inaccurate as it does not include some countries.

Also, for some countries it is extremely difficult to determine the exact number of deaths).

Photo gallery

Start date: 1918

End date: 1919

Time: 18 months

Useful information

Spanish flu or "Spanish flu"
fr. La Grippe Espagnole
Spanish La Pesadilla

Famous victims

• Egon Schiele, Austrian artist.
• Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet. Edmond Rostand, French playwright.
• Max Weber, German philosopher.
• Karl Schlechter, outstanding Austrian chess player.
• Joe Hall, famous Canadian hockey player, Stanley Cup winner.
• Francisco and Jacinta Marto - Portuguese boy and girl, witnesses of the Fatima miracle (the third girl witness survived).
• Vera Kholodnaya, Russian film actress, silent film star.
• Yakov Sverdlov - Russian revolutionary, after the Bolsheviks came to power - Chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) - the highest body of the Soviet state.
• Klimova, Natalya Sergeevna Russian revolutionary.

Modern research on the virus

In 1997, the US Army Institute of Molecular Pathology (AFIP) obtained a sample of the 1918 H1N1 virus from the corpse of an Alaska Native woman buried in permafrost 80 years earlier. This sample allowed scientists in October 2002 to reconstruct the gene structure of the 1918 virus.

The epidemic wave of 1957 was strictly monoetiological in nature, and more than 90% of diseases were associated with the H2N2 influenza virus. The Hong Kong influenza pandemic occurred in three waves (1968, 1969 and 1970) and was caused by the H3N2 virus.

On February 21, 2001, a number of scientists decided to conduct a genetic study of the Spanish flu virus. They believed that the uniqueness of the clinical picture of the disease, the presence of various complications, the appearance of cases of the disease with a picture of general severe intoxication and, finally, the high mortality rate among patients with pulmonary forms - all this made doctors think that they were not dealing with the usual influenza, but a completely new form of it. . This point of view was held until the genome of the Spanish flu virus was deciphered at the end of the 20th century, but the knowledge obtained with such difficulty baffled researchers - it turned out that the killer of tens of millions of people did not have serious differences from the less dangerous pandemic strains of the influenza virus known today in any respect gene.

When the staff of the US Army Institute of Pathology in Washington (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington) began these studies in the mid-1990s, they had at their disposal: 1) formaldehyde-fixed tissue sections of American military personnel who died during the 1918 pandemic; 2) the corpses of members of the so-called Teller mission, who tragically died almost entirely from the Spanish flu in November 1918 and were buried in the permafrost of Alaska. The researchers had at their disposal modern molecular diagnostic techniques and the strong belief that characterizing the virus's genes could help explain the mechanisms by which new pandemic influenza viruses replicate in humans.

It turned out that the Spanish flu virus was not an "epidemic novelty" of 1918 - its "ancestral" variant "entered" the human population around 1900 and circulated in limited human populations for almost 18 years. Therefore, its hemagglutinin (HA), a cellular recognition receptor that ensures the fusion of the virion membrane with the cell membrane, came under “pressure” from the human immune system even before the virus caused the 1918-1921 pandemic. For example, the HA1 sequence of the Spanish flu virus differed from the closest “ancestral” avian virus by 26 amino acids, while the 1957 H2 and 1968 H3 differed by 16 and 10, respectively.

Another mechanism by which the influenza virus evades the immune system is by acquiring regions that mask antigen regions recognized by antibodies (epitopes). However, the modern H1N1 virus has 5 such regions in addition to the 4 found in all avian viruses. The Spanish flu virus has only 4 conserved avian regions. That is, he could not “go unnoticed” by a normally functioning immune system. Typically, pandemic researchers pay little attention to another important Spanish flu syndrome: cardiovascular disease. Rapidly growing damage to the cardiovascular system, a sharp drop in blood pressure, confusion, and hemorrhages developed in patients even earlier than complications from the lungs. Contemporaries of the pandemic attributed these symptoms to the action of toxins from an unknown bacterial pathogen. But today it has been established that the genome of the influenza virus does not contain toxin genes with a similar mechanism of action.