Road Runner Posted May 19, 2018 Share #1 Posted May 19, 2018 The 1918 flu killed almost 700,000 Americans, more than died in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam combined. Yet one of the greatest disasters of all time is rarely mentioned and many people today are probably not even aware it ever occurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirwickWithCheese Posted May 19, 2018 Share #2 Posted May 19, 2018 Give us some background, set the stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share #3 Posted May 19, 2018 Watch this: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/influenza 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted May 19, 2018 Share #4 Posted May 19, 2018 History is underrated, except by Santana of course. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
late Posted May 19, 2018 Share #5 Posted May 19, 2018 My grandfather caught that flu. Some people thought that if you get drunk enough, you could burn the disease out. He got roaring drunk, and woke up a week later, in a morgue. The first flu killed about 10% of the population. Medicine is better, but if we got a new strain that had it's basic properties, it would kill many millions in this country. One of the many things we need to do is speed up the vaccine process. If the breakout happened shortly before flu season, we'd be in deep doodoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkpow Posted May 19, 2018 Share #6 Posted May 19, 2018 That was after the great Dayton flood of 1913 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted May 20, 2018 Share #7 Posted May 20, 2018 The numbers killed by the flu - in any year - are mostly WEAKENED by the flu and then killed by bacterial pneumonia. A study done a decade ago claimed that more than half the flu victims of 1918-19 (until recently known as the "Spanish Flu Epidemic") would have survived if they had the bacterial pneumonia vaccine: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/bacterial-pneumonia-caused-most-deaths-1918-influenza-pandemic https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/14/8/07-1313_article Consequently, I urge everyone to get the pneumonia shot. Some doctors say you only need one, some say two, five years apart, and you're good for life. I've had my two shots, as well as getting the flu shot each year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted May 20, 2018 Share #8 Posted May 20, 2018 51 minutes ago, MickinMD said: Consequently, I urge everyone to get the pneumonia shot. I asked my doctor for the pneumonia shot, they scheduled me for both the flu and the pneumonia shot. When I showed up they just gave me the flu shot, they said your doctor has to order the pneumonia shot. I said you are my doctor and he did. They didn't give it to me and then I got the pneumonia. The next year at my annual physical I told them I wanted the pneumonia shot. The gave me both shots and then I went to work. I thought I was going to die. I would have gone to the ER but I didn't want to drive that far. I had a horrible night and the next day started feeling better. This spring I got my second pneumonia shot and got sick for four weeks. I'm glad I don't need any more of those shots, they can kill you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted May 20, 2018 Share #9 Posted May 20, 2018 11 hours ago, Longjohn said: I asked my doctor for the pneumonia shot, they scheduled me for both the flu and the pneumonia shot. When I showed up they just gave me the flu shot, they said your doctor has to order the pneumonia shot. I said you are my doctor and he did. They didn't give it to me and then I got the pneumonia. The next year at my annual physical I told them I wanted the pneumonia shot. The gave me both shots and then I went to work. I thought I was going to die. I would have gone to the ER but I didn't want to drive that far. I had a horrible night and the next day started feeling better. This spring I got my second pneumonia shot and got sick for four weeks. I'm glad I don't need any more of those shots, they can kill you. The only problem I had was that, on the same day, I got my 2nd pneumonia shot in one shoulder and either the flu or the shingles shot in the other and both arms developed a lot of soreness and I didn't lift many things for a couple days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffJim Posted May 20, 2018 Share #10 Posted May 20, 2018 With my lungs as they are I might not survive a bad flu or pneumonia. I’ve had the pneumonia shot about 5 years ago. Need to find out how long it is effectively. Still got pneumonia this year. I get the flu shot every October. Took me 4 months to get over this mild cold. Not looking forward to the next one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffJim Posted May 20, 2018 Share #11 Posted May 20, 2018 PS I read a book about the 1918 flu a couple years ago. Fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
late Posted May 20, 2018 Share #12 Posted May 20, 2018 25 minutes ago, BuffJim said: With my lungs as they are I might not survive a bad flu or pneumonia. I’ve had the pneumonia shot about 5 years ago. Need to find out how long it is effectively. Still got pneumonia this year. I get the flu shot every October. Took me 4 months to get over this mild cold. Not looking forward to the next one. I think it lasts 5 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomguy Posted May 20, 2018 Share #13 Posted May 20, 2018 I don't care about history, what possible value could it have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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