Spanish flu: The most terrifying 'pandemic' in modern history

March, 1918; Kansas, USA. American soldiers are going through the last days of the First World War, which began with the stigma of colonialism and racism. The defeat of the Axis Powers under German leadership is somehow certain - such rumors are floating in the air. The soldiers are spending their leisure time in the trench. Someone is smoking a cigarette, someone is talking to another soldier.

Meanwhile, a soldier arrived at the Fort Reel Military Hospital in Kansas to report. Her lips are bluish. The poor man was weak with fever and headache.He was taken to hospital with medication.

But after a few hours strange things started happening. Hundreds of soldiers were admitted to the hospital around noon. Everyone's symptoms are the same - bluish face, fever, headache. Who knew that the Spanish flu that had spread to those soldiers of that day would become the most terrifying 'pandemic' in modern history?

You may have guessed the origin of this contagious virus in Spain after hearing the word 'Spanish flu'. If so, you're wrong. Spain has nothing to do with the origin of this flu virus.

Spain is one of the few countries in Europe that played a neutral role during World War I. Being neutral, the media of this country was able to publish news quite freely.

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But the government imposed strict censorship on the newspapers of the rest of the conflicting countries in Europe. The government feared that if the epidemic was announced, they would prove weak in the eyes of the enemy. Therefore, the warring countries were careful not to publish the news of the disease in any way.

Spanish newspapers spread the news of the Spanish flu by taking advantage of the freedom of the media. Even their king Alfonso XIII was infected with the virus. Then the newspapers started publishing more and more news.Since the rest of Europe did not know about the Spanish flu in their own newspapers, they started reading Spanish newspapers. Once they read the idea, the origin of the virus in Spain. They named it 'Spanish flu'. In this way, the name of Spain is associated with the name of a virus that originated in America due to a misunderstanding.

The name of the Spanish flu virus was H1N1. It was a deadly virus. Suppose a patient infected with a virus is talking to another healthy person. The virus was released into the air as soon as the patient breathed. And it would enter through the breath of a healthy patient and infect the healthy person again. Thus, very quickly and in a very short time, many people became infected with this virus.

Early symptoms of the virus infection included dry cough, loss of appetite, and headaches. Then on the second day the patient would sweat a lot. And in the last stage, the virus would attack the patient's respiratory system. As a result, the patient developed pneumonia and died.

Many times a person infected with the virus would die more quickly. The story of most people who died of the Spanish flu in America is like this, "The man woke up and looked very ill. He died on the way to work."