Between 1918 and 1920, the world experienced an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, known as the Spanish flu. About 500 million people have been infected and 50 million have died worldwide, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. A body frozen for nearly 80 years unravels the mystery of the event.
In Alaska, scientists found the body of an Eskimo woman who was suffering from the deadly Spanish flu. Interestingly, Spain is not actually the birthplace of the pandemic. In fact, in 1918, the first case of Spanish flu was not in Spain, but in the United States.
An American soldier named Albert Gitchel first developed symptoms similar to the flu, and then the outbreak spread rapidly in the barracks without going unnoticed. The epidemic spread rapidly to the military and the general population as the First World War spread. With symptoms almost similar to those of the common cold, many people do not realize the severity of the outbreak in time.
The origin of the name of the Spanish flu is surprising because, unlike other countries, the Spanish king has also been infected with severe cases, and the information blockade of other countries has led to the misconception that Spain is the country with the most infections. For this reason, the epidemic became known as the Spanish flu. 100 years later, the pandemic was renamed.
It is worth mentioning that the flu at that time hastened the end of the First World War. Scientists have gone through all kinds of difficulties in order to find the truth. It wasn't until 100 years later that the World Health Organization renamed the flu "1918 epidemic" or "1918 influenza pandemic." What is this flu like?Why is there such a large scale of infection?
At that time, due to limited medical conditions, little was known about the pathogens that were prevalent. It wasn't until 1998 that the body of an Eskimo woman who had been frozen intact for nearly 80 years was found near Brevigmishin, Alaska. In the samples extracted, it was found that some genetic material of the 1918 virus was found, which provided first-hand information for scientific research.
It was not until 2005 that the genetic sequence of the 1918 virus was reassembled, and it turned out that in 1918 it was a recombination of a human H1 virus and an avian virus. Although there are also viruses that are somewhat similar to the 1918 virus in Asia, it is difficult to spread from person to person. Influenza is a nightmare that we can't get rid of, so we can't let our guard down, we must use cutting-edge science and technology to fight and defeat it.