The 35-month Spanish flu
infected 500 million people and killed somewhere between 17 million and 50
million. The world population in 1918 was less than 2 billion. Many more people
lived outside cities then. And, the world had been at war since August 1914.
Crowded military camps, crowded battle lines and crowded cities contributed to the
spread of what was called “the Spanish flu.” Governments locked down
information and made inaccurate, propagandist statements about the flu, when
any mention was made at all.
Now, there are many more of
us, 7.8 billion by most estimates. The majority of people live in cities, many
crowded beyond our imaginations. We think we know what a crowded city looks
like, but search for satellite pictures of the world’s largest cities, and you
will find your imagination limited in its belief about crowded.
In no way is this round of
sickness as deadly as the World War I variety. More might be infected, but
there are around 6 billion more people that in 1918. Determining an infected-to-killed
percentage is not possible, given the range of estimated dead from the 1918
flu.
Upon first reading, several
years ago, that scientists had dug up bodies of Spanish flu victims from permafrost areas,
I was of the “Wait a minute, you don’t know what’s going to happen” thought.
Researchers assured us that their methods of research guaranteed none of the
virus would be released.
Just like operators of the
Chinese labs?
Stuff sticks around.
“Well, somewhere out in the wild there is a pocket of
smallpox or something similar, just waiting to be picked up by some explorer and
brought back to a population that has never been exposed to it or vaccinated
for it, ever. The CDC, in answer to an e-mail I sent them about it several
years ago (because I had the vaxx twice, once in infancy and once again in boot
camp, and they both took), responded with ‘both of them fade after XX years’. In
plain English, nothing lasts forever, including immunity. I didn’t ask CDC
about the polio vaxx, but we got that at school as soon as the Salk vaccine was
available, once as an injection and again (twice) with the sugar cube version.
“Nothing lasts forever.” --
valorguardians
