Spanish flu 1918-1919 – aspects of demographic implications
Keywords:
Spanish flu, pandemics, World War I, demographics, influenza
Abstract
The usual perception of influenza pandemic that ravaged throughout 1918–19 (and in much less manner also in 1920) is structured into analyzing of three different waves that stroke almost whole of humanity in quick succession from spring 1918 onwards. Results of the pandemics regarding the recorded statistics of influenza morbidity and mortality are in the focus of medical science for long time. Although evolution of estimations throughout last several decades almost always tended towards higher and higher estimations, which led to visions of over 100 million deaths throughout definitely most deadly influenza epidemic, it is clear that such numbers should be taken with huge dose of skepticism. Approach of the paper will be centered around methods for demographic estimations and especially evaluations of historical development in the situation where influenza pandemic overlapped with World War I.
References
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7. MacIntyre C. R, Chughtai A. A. Facemasks for the prevention of infection in healthcare and community settings, BMJ 2015; 350: h694, DOI: 10.1136/bmj.h694
8. Phillips H, Killingray D. eds. The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918–19: New Perspectives (London and New York: Routledge, 2003).
9. Phillips H. Second Opinion. The Recent Wave of ‘Spanish’ Flu Historiography, Social History of Medicine, Vol. 27, No. 4, p. 789–808. DOI:10.1093/shm/hku066
10. Taubenberger J. K, Reid A. H, Krafft A. E, Bijwaard K. E, Fanning T. G. Initial Genetic Characterization of the 1918 'Spanish' Influenza Virus, Science, Vol. 275, No. 5307 (1997), p. 1793-1796. DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5307.1793
11. Reid A. H, Fanning T. G, Hultin J. V, Taubenberger J. K. Origin and evolution of the 1918 'Spanish' influenza hemagglutinin gene, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 96 (1999), p. 1651-1656. DOI:10.1073/pnas.96.4.1651
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13. Patterson K. D, Pyle G. F. The Geography and Mortality of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, Bull. Hist. Med., 1991, 65: p. 4–21. PMID: 2021692
14. Johnson N. P. A. S, Mueller J. Updating the Accounts: Global Mortality of the 1918–1920 “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic, Bull. Hist. Med., 2002, 76: p. 105–115. DOI: 10.1353/bhm.2002.0022
15. "Summary of probable SARS cases with onset of illness from 1 November 2002 to 31 July 2003", World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/table2004_04_21/en/ (08.06.2020, 14:44)
16. Tu A. T. Overview of sarin terrorist attacks in Japan, ACS Symposium Series. (2000). 745: p. 304–317. DOI: 10.1021/bk-2000-0745.ch020
17. Barry J. M. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, New York, NY: Viking Press, 2004.
18. Davis R. A. The Spanish Flu: Narrative and Cultural Identity in Spain, 1918, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. DOI: 10.1057/9781137339218
19. Bristow N. K. American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2012. DOI: 10.1111/hisn.12023_12
20. "2019 Revision of World Population Prospects", United Nations. https://population.un.org/wpp/ (08.06.2020, 15:14)
21. "The Human Mortality Database", Department of Demography at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. https://www.mortality.org/ (08.06.2020, 16:19)
22. Spreeuwenberg P, Kroneman M, Paget J. Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 187, No. 12, September 7, 2018, p. 2561-2567, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwy191
23. Beštić-Bronza S. Karakteristike povlačenja Austro-Ugarske s područja Bosne i Hercegovine, novembra 1918 [Characteristics of the withdrawal of Austro-Hungary from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, November 1918], Zbornik radova sa naučnog skupa, Nauka, kultura i ideologija (Banja Luka, 12.-13. decembar 2008.), Filozofski fakultet u Banjoj Luci, Naučni skupovi, Knjiga 9, Tom I, Banja Luka, 2008, p. 215-232. (Serbian)
24. Osterholm M.T. Preparing for the next pandemic, The New England Journal of Medicine, (May 2005), 352 (18): p. 1839–1842. DOI:10.1056/NEJMp058068
Published
2020/04/04
Issue
Section
History of medicine article
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