We are told the 1918 Influenza Pandemic was the worst pandemics in our history. It is commonly called the “Spanish Flu” pandemic, I will call it the 1918 pandemic. We are told that the 1918 pandemic was caused by a novel influenza virus which killing an estimated 50 million people world wide, at a time when the population was about 1.8 billion, which equates to an approximate 2.77 percent mortality rate.
Depending on what publication you read, this global death toll estimate ranges from 17 million up to as high as 100 million or from 0.94% to 5.55% mortality respectively!
The US CDC say there is no universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, though it spread worldwide and was “first identified” in the United States in military personnel in spring (March-May) of 1918, the peak of deaths hit in September 1918, and subside in early 1919, officially spanning for a period of 10 months.
On hundered years on, at the October 2019 Event 201 coronavirus pandemic simulation they predicted, in their scenario, 65 million deaths would occur world wide without a vaccine, a figure curiously close to the “1918” number! But based on 2019 global population of approximately 7.8 billion, the 1918 pandemic would have had a higher death toll percentage (just an observation). As it turned out the “surprise outbreak” predicted for 2020 amounted to 6.89 million deaths that had “COVID-19” documented on their death certificates, by July 2023. (Were they actually deaths from a virus or deaths with a PCR positive test?)
Why was the 1918 pandemic so fatal?
In an Infectious Disease paper there is the statement: “By the early 1990s, 75 years of research had failed to answer a most basic question about the 1918 pandemic: why was it so fatal? No virus from 1918 had been isolated, but all of its apparent descendants caused substantially milder human disease.”
So why WAS the 1918 death toll so high?
Was the cause an “influenza virus” if nothing was isolated?
Why were all “apparent descendants”, of this influenza virus, milder in comparison?
Is there another explanation for all of these?
So I’m curious, was it actually a novel influenza virus that caused so many deaths, or was there a perfect storm of events and interventions, that cascaded into so much tragic loss, and could deaths have been prevented? These are questions that I have, knowing the COVID-19 pandemic is not what we are officially told, as I have documented on this website, but was it also the case for the 1918 pandemic? That is what I want to explore and find out for myself. I knew very little about the 100 years-ago pandemic before starting this page, so lets see what I discover.
This page will document the research data points that I uncover, mostly from archived documents found online, and see where it leads me! I will also be writing about this on my substack, you can track this Hidden Knowledge HERE
The United States
I will concentrate my research on the United States as they documented the highest death toll for COVID-19 during 2020-21, double that of India, and I wanted to see how well they fared in 1918-19. As I come across interesting findings from other countries, including my own country, Australia, I will captured these also.
The US statistics reported 675,000 people of their population died during the pandemic, with cause-of-death either influenza or pneumonia, but curiously, just like in 2020-21 they had “comparatively few” other respiratory illness deaths during this same period, a “remarkable” finding.
Death statistics create FEAR
Blaming death on “one thing” provides an avenue to point blame and instil fear in a population. But was it really “the flu” that killed the people around the world in 1918 or was it the perfect storm of compounding circumstances that led to their demise, and a virus got the blame? I’m on a journey of discovery. I’ll place what I find here!
Dr Fauci et al published a paper that revealed most of the 1918-1919 pandemic deaths were from bacterial pneumonia [1, 2], at a time when mask wearing was prolific, but the influenza virus got the blame.
But what happened leading up to 1918 and during the pandemic period that could provide clues to factors that contributed to such high death numbers. Because just like in 2020 where those doctors who treated “the patient” and did it early, they had minimal to no deaths from COVID-19, compared to The Hospital System, the very same thing happened during the Spanish flu! Those who sort assistance from “regular” doctors of “Medical Science” had a higher death toll!
Medicine’s “supremacy” is waning over the minds of the masses
Some key findings on this page:
“Regular” physicians of “Medical Science” did not know how to treat influenza or pneumonia in 1918 – they experimented with their “coal tar” derived drugs.
In the U.S. during 1918-19 deaths from other respiratory diseases, other than influenza and pneumonia, “were comparatively few” or effectively disappeared – REF Just as “the flu” disappeared in 2020!
Bacterial pneumonia was the major cause of death, as documented in the US vital statistics as well as according to lung tissue analysis published in 2008 by (the vaccine trio) Morens, Taubenberger and Fauci
Antibiotics had not yet been discovered
Masks were mandated in 1918 (just like 2020) and known to increase bacterial contamination
Wearing of cloth masks were promoted by board of health to save lives – “99% proof against influenza”.
Aspirin came off-patent in February 2017, it was available over-the-counter, and was taken in overdose amounts, a practice encouraged by some physicians “if a little is good, a lot more is better” mindset.
Aspirin in high doses affects the heart and pneumonia sets in!
“The Cult” practitioners referred to as “quacks” had lower mortality rate under their treatment guidance
Mortality rates of fraction of 1 percent (0.25%) under the “quacks” compared to 6-7% with as high as 50% under the “care” of regular physicians.
1995 Case Fatality Rates (CFR) were estimated >2.5%, compared to <0.1% in other influenza pandemics
Newspaper advertising was prolific for instilling fear. Throughout was a mass campaign for the “cure-all” Aspirin!
Experiments failed of “influenza” sick, failed to infect with mucus (cough, sneeze etc) healthy people. Even though they did not know what the “pathogen” was, a sick person failed to infect a healthy person. The illness called “influenza” was not contagious.
Historical and epidemiologic data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus, thought it may have began in 1915 – READ
Vital Statistics:
CDC mortality statistics US 1890-1938 – HERE
These are but a few points discovered so far, as more comes to my attention I will place in the timeline below
Links will appear in chronological order
Note: This order is opposite to how I catalogue data on many other pages on this website. I want to build the picture…for my own benefit as well. This chronology reveals a fascinating order of events. Links are continuously being added. Use them for your own research.
1917
February 27, 1917 – Bayer’s Aspirin comes off patent – READ
German company Bayer owns the trademark for “Aspirin”, and the US patent for the product. It is an over-the-counter drug, which is heavily advertised in the newspapers throughout 1917. There is a manufacturing plant in New York.
When America entered World War 1 (April 1917), the German company, who made Aspirin in New York, had it’s assets seised. The rights were sold, that company claimed to have the only authentic product.
Generic Aspirin product (they were allowed to use the trademark) flooded the market. It was available over the counter. Newspapers were flooded with Advertisements. People took more than the label suggested. Doctors promoted more than the labels suggested!
1918
April 15, 1918 – “The earliest reported outbreak of epidemic proportions in the A. E. F. was that which appeared about April 15, 1918, at Rest Camp 4 in Base Section 2, near Bordeaux, reached its height on April 22 and ceased on May 5.” – pg 675 – REF
May (mid) 1918 – “By May, 1918, there was in Spain a widespread epidemic which received much publicity” – REF, REF2
May 1918 – “A disease, clinically recognized as influenza, became epidemic in the A. E. F. in France in May, 1918.” – REF
June 1, 1918 – Reported in: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) | Vol 71, No 2 (July 13, 1918): Influenza in Spain – Pg 136 – READ
It was reported in JAMA that the Spanish Public Health Service had “announced that the epidemic prevailing at Madrid seems to be of grippal nature“, the information was from Medicina Ibera published June 1, 1918. Grippe is the era’s common term for “influenza”.
Just as interesting is “no specific microbe had been isolated” and “the disease is so mild”. But clearly the nature of this incident prompted the Madrid governor to put a cap on drug prices. Where Bayer’s aspirin is called out by brand name.
I suspect this is the first account of “influenza”, and why the 1918 pandemic was referred to as “The Spanish Flu“.
July 2, 1918 – Reported in: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) | Vol 71, No 2 (July 13, 1918): Influenza in Spain – Pg 136 – READ
“Epidemic of Influenza—The report came from London, July 2, that the influenza epidemic that has been so prevalent in Spain has entered England, is spreading rapidly, and has already reached the midland counties where schools have been closed and many mines are in danger of being shut down.”
July 13, 1918 – The Lancet | Issue 4950: The Prevailing Pandemic – READ, Reports of grippe in Paris (France) and Belfast (Ireland)
“The epidemic seems very like the Spanish one recently reported”:
Interestingly Belfast is reported in poor health – Oct 1918 – READ
July 13, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol 195 Issue 4950: The Absence of the Bacillus Influenza in the Exudate from the Upper Air-Passages in the Present Epidemic – Captain Little et al Canadian Mobile Laboratory, Pg 34- READ
“Is the present widely spread epidemic one of influenza or is it something new?” The symptoms are described and they are not typical influenza
“The most striking symptoms are: Sudden onset with chills, severe headache with pain in cervical, dorsal, and lumbar regions, also pain in limbs and general malaise. The face is somewhat flushed and herpes labialis is to be noticed in a few case…”
“In conclusion, we wish to point out that although this epidemic has been called influenza for the want of a better name, yet in our opinion it cannot properly be considered such for the following reasons:”…READ
“The organism of influenza—viz., Bacillus influenza—was in all cases absent and there was present with no exception a Gram-positive diplococcus.” etc
July 13, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol 195 Issue 4950: Outbreak of an acute febrile disease in three factories and and industrial school in Glasgow – By Dr. A. MAcLEAN pg 36 – READ
“During the first week of May of this year an acute febrile disease with symptoms resembling those of influenza invaded three factories and one industrial home for boys in Glasgow. The three factories accounted for 420 cases, the industrial school for 16. The disease was of a very mild type, and was characterised by sudden onset, severe headache, prostration, occasionally extreme, and rapid recovery usually in 2-4 days.”…
“The bacillus of influenza is invariably absent“
July 27, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Issue 4952: On a Method of Preparing Medium for the Culture of Pfeiffer’s Influenza Bacillus that gives profuse growth and is to a marked degree selective for this organism – John Matthews – READ Pfeiffer’s bacillus is the common name for the alleged influenza causing agent B. influenze (Pfeiffer) – (which should actually be a virus not bacillus – “Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria”)
“In view of the prevailing pandemic of influenza it seems a fitting time to publish a short account of this peculiarly valuable medium…The method consists in the use of blood digested by trypin, prepared as follows…”
“The medium grows influenza freely from the first culture, and it is to a marked extent selective. Thus, it inhibits pneumococci entirely and in a large measure streptococci and other Gram-positive organisms, but apparently favours staphylococci.”
July 27, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Issue 4952: The Bacteriology of the Prevailing Pandemic – To the Editor of THE LANCET – READ
Re Canadian report above “According to verbal report, investigations of other bacteriologists with the B.E.F. in France tend to support the view that the present pandemic is due to infection by Pfeiffer’s bacillus, and therefore truly influenza.”
July 27, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 194, Issue 4952: Broncho- Pneumonia in Army Camps pg 120 – READ [could these be “influenza” like illness]
An important paper on the virulent type of pneumonia observed in Army camps was read by Dr. W.G. MAcCALLUM, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. This disease seemed likely to be the cause of a large amount of sickness and death. While numerous cases of lobar pneumonia had occurred, the most noteworthy was a type of bronchopneumonia due to infection with a hemolytic streptococcus.
The prominent symptoms were sore throat, swelling of the larynx, and alteration of the voice owing to deep ulceration of the vocal cords. The fluid which collected in the pleural cavity was slightly turbid, at first straw coloured, becoming later brown, and then purulent and thick….Post mortem the lungs were found distended with air and containing hard peri-bronchial nodules as large as peas, resembling miliary tubercles.
August 10, 1918 – Lancet Vol 195, Issue 4954: Bacteriology of the “SPANISH INFLUENZA“, as reported from Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift – READ
The pandemic of influenza has not spared any single part of Germany. … Relapses and fatal pneumonias are particularly noted.
Frankfort his failure to detect Pfeiffer’s bacilli in any of the few cases which he had thoroughly examined. In practically all cases there were found, however, large numbers of a Gram-positive coccus—often in a pure culture or in symbiosis with pneumococci. The diplococcus tended to develop involution forms and to grow in very long chains in the condensation water. He regards them as agents of a secondary infection in the “Spanish disease”
September 28, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol. 195 Iss. 4961: Notes on the Symptomatology and Morbid Anatomy of So-Called “Spanish Influenza” with special reference to its diagnosis from other forms of “P.U.O” – E. Rivaz Hunt – pg 420 – READ
The symptomatology of “Spanish influenza” is characteristic, and in view of the extreme prevalence of this disease at present…:
The incubation period appears to be short, about 3-4 days. The mode of onset is characteristically sudden….
The earliest symptoms are usually shivering, pains in the limbs and back and very severe headache—generally, but not invariably, frontal in situation—and sore throat, and in almost all cases an irritating severe cough is also complained of….The appearance in most cases is quite characteristic. The patient lies curled up in bed in a drowsy condition, with flushed face and injected conjunctiva, but there is little coryza, and physical signs, in the early stages at any rate, are remarkable by their absence.” Some have a rash.
A small percentage of patients develop serious pulmonary complications, and the pneumonia arising in these cases presents several distinctive features. It is of a mixed lobar and broncho-pneumonic type….In some of these influenzal pneumonias the toxemia is severe, and death rapidly ensues from acute heart failure.
The heart condition of a very large proportion of these cases of ‘‘ Spanish influenza” is interesting…It is noteworthy that in a large proportion of cases examined post-mortem here myocarditis was found, and more or less dilatation of the heart was constant…
The onset of pyrexia [fever] is very sudden, the temperature rapidly rising to 103° or higher. The duration of pyrexia is generally short,…
The pains of this type of influenza are very characteristic ; they are referred almost invariably to the muscles and soft tissues, and to a less extent to the joints rather than to the bones themselves….
A blood count is of great value in helping to discriminate between the various causes of P.U.O. … In ‘Spanish influenza” the leucocyte count usually varies between 5000 and 9000 per c.mm….
So-Called “Spanish Influenza” – source
Early post-mortem finding of so-called “Spanish Influenza” – source
Note: 7 with acute toxic kidney.
October 5, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol 195 Iss 4962 : INFLUENZA IN INDIA.—There has been a widespread epidemic of influenza throughout India, introduced, the medical officers of health agree, through shipping. – READ
November 2, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol 195 Iss 4966: Observations on a Small Localised Epidemic of Influenza with Special Reference to the incubation period – Foster and Cookson – READ, Nov 9, 1918 – The incubation period of influenza- READ
“These observations illustrate two factors in the spread of influenza. Firstly, the narrow radius within which infection takes place ; secondly, the shortness and apparent punctuality of the incubation period. Both these factors help to explain the rapid spread of epidemic influenza.”
November 2, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Iss 4966: The Influenza Epidemic – pg 595- READ
The epidemic influenza has spread across the world, there are a shortage of doctors due to the war, and by this stage it appears most to the armies in the field have recently been infected.
“In Europe, Spain seems to have been the country first attacked, hence the present term “Spanish influenza” for what was on a former occasion called “Russian influenza”!
For the rest we may trust the Local Government Board and the local health authorities to do their best in the circumstances, but the work of prevention is largely dependent upon the people themselves. If those who feel ill would stay at home; if those who are well would avoid travelling in railway carriages with the windows closed or in unventilated trams and ‘buses; and, above all, if the public would forego picture palaces or other crowded places of amusement so long as the epidemic continues,
STOP THE SPREAD: “… but the work of prevention is largely dependent upon the people themselves. If those who feel ill would stay at home; if those who are well would avoid travelling in railway carriages with the windows closed or in unventilated trams and ‘buses; and, above all, if the public would forego picture palaces or other crowded places of amusement so long as the epidemic continues, much would be done to limit the spread in populous centres.”
The Lancet: Weekly Vital Statistics
Vital Statistics are published in very weekly edition of The Lancet for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland – source,
All The Lancet 1918 – HERE
November 2, 1918 – The Lancet | Vol 195, Iss 4966: Correspondence – Influenza and Preventive Inoculation (and other letters to the Editor) pg 602 – READ, more information pg 609 – READ, Nov 9 – READ
“I am personally supplying quantities of the vaccine to the military authorities through the Inoculation Department, St Mary’s Hospital” – The comment was referring Oct 26 article about vaccinating military – “Our Present Knowledge of Epidemic Catarrh.” – READ
50 cases of influenza were treated with “intravenous injections of oil of garlic. After determining on himself that 5 mins. of Oleum allii sativi could be given with impunity, he administered the oil to patients suffering from influenza in a 10 percent. solution, using equal parts of alcohol and pure ether as the solvent” [This is medicine of the time in action!!] – REF
November 11, 1918 – Armistice day, World War 1 ended
Now what are they going to do with the left over vaccines?
November 1918 – American Journal of Public Health (NY): PUBLIC HEALTH NOTES – PDF, SOURCE
“No Specific Cure for Influenza Yet Known. …The United States Public Health Service is besieged with inquiries as to the value in combating or treating “Spanish” influenza. Public interest in this form of treatment appears to have been aroused by newspaper accounts of the trials now being made of vaccines in various parts of the country.
“..several different vaccines are now being tried. In and around Boston considerable use is being made of Leary’s influenza bacillus vaccine; in New York a vaccine made from various strains of influenza bacilli is being tested under the direction of Park, while in Chicago an entirely different type of vaccine, prepared by Rosenow is being tested. This consists of a mixture of pneumococci, streptococci, staphylococci, and influenza bacilli. The reports so far received do not permit any conclusion whatsoever regarding the efficacy of these vaccines or their relative merits.”
The present epidemic has given rise to the publication of numerous “sure cures” and methods more or less plausible to the lay mind…. pseudo-scientific treatment, sometimes “isotonic sea-water,” sometimes”ozone therapy,” and again “harmonic vibrations.” and “sprinkle a little sulphur in each shoe every morning“…and more…
The United States Public Health Service urges the public to remember that there is as yet no specific cure for influenza, and that many of the alleged “cures” and remedies now being recommended by neighbors, nostrum vendors and others do more harm than good.
December 28, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Iss 4974: Some Observations on the Bacteriology and Pathology of “Influenza”, Delivered at the Royal Society of Medicine Nov 13, 1918 – Whittingham & Sims – READ
“The following investigations were undertaken to ascertain whether the present October “influenzal” epidemic and the July “Spanish plague” were due to one and the same micro-organism or group of organisms.”
Includes charts and post-mortem findings
VACCINE TREATMENT.” The vaccine prepared by us was made from micro-organisms isolated from severe cases in the present epidemic. Most of the streptococci and pneumococci were obtained from postmortem examinations. The vaccine was used (1) as a prophylactic and (2) as .a curative….” – READ
The War Office conference Oct 28, 1918 “recommended that the vaccine for influenza should consist only of B. influenza, pneumococcus, and streptococcus” protective effect if >40 period available before infection! – REF
December 28, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Iss 4974: The Use of Vaccines in Acute Influenza and Influenzal Broncho-Pneumonia – READ
December 28, 1918 – The Lancet Vol 195, Iss 4974: Some Observations on the Recent Influenza Epidemic At a Base Hospital in France -DT Harris – page 877 – READ
1919
January 4 1919 – JAMA Vol 72, Issue 1: Prophylactic Inoculation Against Respiratory Infections During the Present Pandemic of Influenza: Preliminary Report by Rosenaow E. C. – pg 31-34 –READ,
“Influenza” vaccination targeted the bacteria that cause the complications, the “secondary infection”, which caused the deaths – pneumonia
“Both local and general reactions are decidedly less than those following typoid vaccines. Exceptionally severe reactions occur showing unusual individual susceptibility. The severer reactions are prone to occur in persons who give a history of recent exposure to the disease, or who already have beginning symptoms of it [Pathogenic priming!]. In these persons, attacks may appear to be precipitated by the vaccination; but the course if usually short and relatively mild.”…
References to random vaccines made during 1918 for “influenza”: JAMA page 44 – READ, Ref to Cutter Laboratory – READ, JAMA pg 1874 – READ
January 4 1919 – JAMA Vol 72, Issue 1: Treatment of Influenzal Pneumonia with Plasma of Convalescent Patients – O’Malley & Hartman (Navy) pg 34 – READ
June 1919 – Archives Internal Medicine Vol 23, No 6: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 in the American Expeditionary Forces in France and England, Archives Internal Medicine by MacNeal. W pg 657 – READ, referenced – HERE
“Greater publicity was given to these reports in Spain, doubtless, in part, because that country was not engaged in war.” – This paper suggests pandemic “Influenza” originated in France
“Until conclusive experiments have been carried out to decide the claims of the bacillus of Pfeiffer and of the filterable virus as the cause of influenza, one should keep an open mind in regard to the matter. It appears fruitless to attempt to settle the question by debate.”
July 12, 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 2: A METHOD FOR THE PREPARATION OF PROPHYLACTIC AND AUTOGENOUS LIPO-VACCINES by Rosenow et al from Mayo Foundation – READ, “Influenza vaccines” contained bacteria
July 19, 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 3: Survey of the Epidemic of Influenza in the American Expeditionary Forces by Warfield T. Longcope MD – READ
“The origin of the epidemic of influenza and its invasion of Europe is still obscure; but it is certain that influenza existed in epidemic form in Spain, France and possibly England, early in 1918, and it may even have been present in endemic form during the previous year. By May, 1918, there was in Spain a widespread epidemic which received much publicity…”
August 2, 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 5: Experiments to Determine Mode of Spread of Influenza by MILTON J. ROSENAU, M.D. pg 311 – READ, PDF, CREDIT, JAMA start Issue No. 5 – HERE
Experiments failed to reproduce the “influenza” disease with these experiments:
Experiment where “pure culture” of Pfeiffer’s bacillus, though to be the causal agent of “influenza” was sprayed into the nasal passage of 100 healthy naval “volunteers” – “none of them took sick“
Second experiment taking the mucus from sick patients, preparing that, sprayed into the nose and throat of healthy volunteers and “none of these took sick“.
Even transfering mucus direct from patient to volunteer (2-3 times), none took sick!
Drew blood from sick, prepared and injected into volunteers – “None of them took sick in any way“
Simulated the “natural spread” between healthy volunteers coming into direct contact (talking, shaking hands, coughing) with sick “influenza” patients in hospital – “They were watched carefully for seven days—and none of them took sick in any way.”
Similar experiment was done in Japan by Yamanouchi et al with cultured Pfeiffer’s bacillus and no symptoms were found, but they did produce disease using “An emulsion of the sputum from forty three influenza patients … made in Ringer’s solution” – READ
August 2 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 5: THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INFLUENZA by W. H. FROST, M.D., Surgeon, U. S. Public Health Service – READ
Influenza epidemics: “even though a large proportion of the deaths are classified under diagnoses other than influenza” [Starting refine death count due to a disease labelled “influenza”!]
Includes charts of 1889-1892 influenza epidemic.
August 2 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 5: BACTERIOLOGY OF RECENT PANDEMIC OF INFLUENZA AND COMPLICATING INFECTIONS by WILLIAM H. PARK, M.D., Director, Laboratories of New York City Health Department – READ
“The pandemic of 1918 is over. The difficulty of being certain that any suspected cases are due to the pandemic virus is gradually increasing. It is probable that if we have not at the present time gathered sufficiently convincing evidence to convict some germ we shall have to wait for another epidemic to solve the problem”
August 2 1919 – JAMA Vol 73, Issue 5: THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY AND COMPLICATIONS OF INFLUENZA – READ
December 1919 – Journal of the American Medical Association Vol 73 – July-Dec 1919 – References to “influenza” – HERE (for you to explore)
1920
1920 – CDC: Department of Commerce United States of America: OFFICIAL Mortality Statistics 1918 – PDF, CDC – SOURCE
Official mortality statistics for Influenza and pneumonia (all forms) in US (ex Hawaii) for 1918
477,467 total (583.2/100,000) compared to 125,795 (167/100,000) in 1917
79.8% mortality occurred Sept-Dec 1918 – equating to 381,018
Highest rate from influenza and pneumonia since 1910. In 2018 deaths from other respiratory diseases “were comparatively few”! [Exactly like 2020!]
Influenza and Pneumonia mortality 1918 – 79.8% mortality occurred in last 4 months of 1918 – source
US Death Rate for Pneumonia 1918 – source
US Death Rate for Influenza 1918 – source
2020 – CDC: US Mortality – Special Tables of Mortality from Influenza and Pneumonia. Indiana, Kansas, and Philadelphia, PA. September 1 to December 31, 1918 – Breakdown by age and gender – PDF, SOURCE
Distinct “W” shaped age mortality graphs “never seen before or after” this time period. Normally they are “U” shaped with highest mortality in the young and elderly – REF [I won’t why they only selected those 3 states?]
Example of “W” shaped age-mortality graph found HERE
1921
1921 – CDC: Department of Commerce United States of America: OFFICIAL Mortality Statistics 1919 – PDF, CDC – SOURCE
Official mortality statistics for Influenza and pneumonia (all forms) in US (ex Hawaii) for 1919:
189,326 deaths (222.4/100,000) from influenza and pneumonia (all forms) vs 479,038 death 2018 (588.7/100,000) [note they increased this from previous years reports]
83.2% mortality in 2019 occurred in first six months of the year (Jan-June inclusive)
Thus this pandemic ran from September 1918 – June 1919 (10 months)
Some US states experienced consistent greater toll than other states, with the highest at 9.2 deaths/1,000 (Pennsylvania) and the city of Pittsburg with 12.7 deaths/1,000. Lowest state was Michigan (4.5) and lowest city was Grand Rapids (2.8). Their mortality was consistent across the 10 month period
Influenza & Pneumonia deaths per 1000 1915-1919 – source
Influenza & Pneumonia age, sex, deaths/1000 1918-1919 – source
1923
December, 1923 – American Journal of Public Health: RECIPROCITY BETWEEN THE HEALTH OFFICIALS AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION by Dr. E. C. Levy, Director of Public Welfare – READ, PDF, CREDIT
“In explanation of why these quacks and cults were consulted,…[From a public survey] “nearly all of them show profound ignorance of just what constitutes the difference between the regular practitioner of medicine and the quack.” [maybe it has to to with the health outcomes!]
“In spite of the fact that regular medical practice to-day is incomparably superior to what it has ever been, nevertheless there has never been a time when the people had less confidence in it.”
“It is as much the duty of the health officer as it is to the interest of the doctors to combat this tendency on the part of the people to seek the aid of practitioners of all manner of ” pathies ” and ” isms.”,,,The health officer can preach the inadequacy and the danger of these cults and not have selfish interest charged against him.
If the word of the health officer is to be accepted by the public he must himself have their confidence, and no agency can so build up confidence in the health officer as can the medical profession. [You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours]
Dr. E. C. Levy, Director of Public Welfare
November 1923 – The Society of Friends of Medical Progress – A National Lay Society – organised and incorporated in 1923: Why it was founded? – READ , CREDIT in time this organisation becomes The American Association for Medical Progress – New York times “..to Offset Propaganda Dangerous to Public Health” – READ
The society was set up to counter the efforts of “the anti-vaccinists and anti-vivisectionists in resisting the attacks of organized and compulsory State Medicine on the rights of the individual and the compassionate claims of dumb animals.” – REF
[Kind of sounds familiar – Fast forward 100 years! – Friend of Science in Medicine Australia – a lobby group that took down naturopathy and homeopathy – READ]
April 1923 – Hygeia: a monthly magazine by the American Medical Association was first published – ARCHIVE, Volume 1 ARCHIVE, CREDIT Editor Dr. Morris Fishbein head of AMA
What is a Chromosome? by Julian Huxley pg 30 – READ
Louis Pasteur and His Work pg 32 – READ
Patent Medicines and why pg 43 – READ
Hygeia – A journal of individual and community health – Vol 1, Issue 1 – READ
1924
November 19, 1924 – Medical Journal and Record, New York – Editorial Articles: Whither are we tending? – READ, CREDIT
The doctor himself has in a measure forsaken the art of medicine for the science of medicine, perhaps for the business of medicine; frequently, the sick man ceases to be a patient and becomes a case, a vehicle for an interesting disease.
The public, …is growing restive under the high cost of medical and surgical treatment and is seeking relief in the realm of quackery, isms and pathies. … the public is ”getting doctor shy”.
1925
July 1925 – Scientific Monthly: The Future Progress of Medicine by Dr Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute – READ, CREDIT
To-day, medicine consists of an immense quantity of observations, partly empirical and partly classified according to scientific method. It is a science in the making.
…It is clear that the future progress of medicine must consist in finding the nature and causation of some of these diseases and their prevention.
Dr Alexis Carrel
July 7, 1925 – “The Medical Follies” by Morris Fishbein M.D. Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association – ARCHIVE, PDF – An attack against “The Cults”, quacks and any other competition to “scientific medicine”
[Be sure to read the counter argument “These Cults” (below) by independent journalist Annie Riley Hale published 1926]
1926
1926 – “These Cults” by Annie Riley Hale [independent journalist]- “An Answer to Dr Morris Fishbein’s venomous “The Medical Follies” [Published 2025] with iconoclastic chapters on Homeopathy, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, The Abrams Method, Vivisection, Physical Culture, Christian Science, etc.” – ARCHIVE, PDF
“An Answer to Dr Morris Fishbein‘s venomous “The Medical Follies” with iconoclastic chapters on Homeopathy, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, The Abrams Method, Vivisection, Physical Culture, Christian Science, etc.”
“These Cults” is an emphatic protest against State Medicine and if it shall serve no other purpose than to arouse in its readers the average person’s love of fair play, it will not have been written in vain.”
This book These Cults contains some statistics garnered from that time.
“After reading “THESE CULTS” I can understand why the big pulishers were afraid to touch it. …It is a powerful indictment of the follies of Medicine and by all odds the best and most readable book on the subject printed in the English language”
Alexander Marky [from front cover]
A counter publication to the 1925 publication by Fishbine the editor of The American Medical Association – READ, PDF
Excerpts from this book regarding fatalities during the 1918 “flu” :
Osteopaths: 6-7% – REF
“The mortality percentage under osteopathic treatment was obtained from report blanks furnished all practicing osteopaths in the United States and Canada for data on all cases of influenza and pneumonia.”
Chiropractic – REF
“The Chiropractic figures in the 1918 “Flu” epidemic showed a loss of one patient in 789, whereas the M.D.’s lost one in 16.”
1997
March 21, 1997 – Science: Initial genetic characterization of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza virus by Taubenberger et al – READ, READ2
(At this time Taubenberger worked for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington DC, he would later go on to work under Dr Anthony Fauci at the NIAID)
“The “Spanish” influenza pandemic killed at least 20 million people in 1918-1919″ – note this gets raised to 50 million in a few years! The case mortality rates are estimated “over 2.5%”, and most deaths amongst the young aged groups.
The sample was “isolated from a formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, lung tissue sample”…”The sequences are consistent with a novel H1N1 influenza A virus that belongs to the subgroup of strains that infect humans and swine, not the avian subgroup.” “The group has analyzed only about 7 percent of the virus”
“The first human influenza virusus were not isolated until the early 1930s… characterization of the 1918 strain has had to rely on indirect evidence”
March 21, 1997 – The New York Times: Genetic Material of Virus From 1918 Flu Is Found – PAGE1, PAGE2
“Of the 198 cases that Dr. Taubenberger requested, 7 met his criteria. But only one had other features that led the researchers to believe that the flu virus was actively replicating when the man died.”
“The researchers spent nearly two years amplifying the tiny segments of viral RNA so that they would have enough to analyze and assemble like a jigsaw puzzle.”…”they report on the sequences of nine fragments of the virus that include pieces of its major genes” [They didn’t get the entire sequence!]- PAPER
The soldier’s sample chosen was from “Fort Jackson” – which according to the archived Surgeon General’s report ther is no mention of “Fort” only Camp Jackson.
The soldier “was a healthy 21-year-old male with no medical history” from New York and “died within five days of infection, on Sept. 26, 1918, and in October his lung tissue was shipped to Washington, where it was stored, undisturbed, for nearly 80 years.” – curiously another paper stated he died “6 days after appearance of symptoms” [Same author!]
Surgeon General’s report for Camp Jackson 1918 Influenza and pneumonias – source
August 1997 – Brevig Mission, Alaska – four permafrosted bodies were exhumed from mass graves, throught to have died in 1918 influenza pandemic – REF
“One of the victims, an Inuit female (age unknown) was influenza RNA positive [A/Brevig Mission/1/18 (H1N1)]. In this case, RNA templates greater than 120 nucleotides could not be amplified.”
1998
February 8, 1998 – NY Times: Alaskan Victim of 1918 Flu Yields Sample of Killer Virus – READ
Dr. Jeffery K. Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology – “biopsy samples from a corpse exhumed from a cemetery in Brevig Mission, Alaska, contained genetic material from the flu.”
“Last year, Army researchers identified the flu virus in preserved lung specimens taken during autopsies of soldiers killed by the flu in 1918 at military bases in Fort Jackson, S.C., and Camp Upton, N.Y.”
“Dr. Johan Hultin, a retired San Francisco pathologist, exhumed four bodies from a mass grave and found that one, an obese woman, had been well-preserved. Tissue from her lung contained genes [ASSUMED TO BE] from the killer flu.”
“In a mass grave in a remote Inuit village near the town of Brevig Mission, a large Inuit woman lay buried under more than six feet of ice and dirt for more than 75 years. The permafrost plus the woman’s ample fat stores kept the virus in her lungs so well preserved that when a team of scientists exhumed her body in the late 1990s, they could recover enough viral RNA to sequence the 1918 strain in its entirety.” – REF
1999
February 16, 1999 – PNAS: Origin and evolution of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza virus hemagglutinin gene – Reid et al (incl Taubenberger, all with the Armed Forces Institute) – READ
“These samples were from patients who experienced acute influenza deaths after clinical courses of less than 1 week….Of these 13 samples, [Only] 2 were positive for influenza RNA on subsequent molecular genetic analysis.”
“Here, we report the complete sequence of the hemagglutinin (HA) gene of the 1918 virus.” as constructed from 2 cases – “Fort Jackson”21-year-old male stationed at Ft. Jackson, SC” who died September 26, 1918 [A/South Carolina/1/18 (H1N1)]
“The second patient was a 30-year-old male stationed at Camp Upton, NY. He was admitted to the camp hospital with influenza on September 23, 1918, had a very rapid clinical course, and died from acute respiratory failure on September 26, 1918” [A/New York/1/18 (H1N1)]
“An additional 1918 influenza case was found by examining lung tissue from four 1918 influenza victims exhumed from a mass grave in Brevig Mission on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. Brevig Mission (called Teller Mission in 1918) suffered extremely high mortality during the influenza pandemic in November 1918…Although individual case records were not available, historical records show that influenza spread through the village in about 5 days, killing 72 people, representing about 85% of the adult population” [So it is assumed this exhumed person had “influenza”]
In August 1997, four of these victims were exhumed.
2000
May 23, 2000 – PNAS: Characterization of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza virus neuraminidase gene – by Reid, Fanning, Janczewski and Taubenberger (all from Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) – READ
2003
September 1, 2003 – Journal of General Virology: The origin of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus: a continuing enigma – Reid & Taubenberger (Armed Forces Instituted of Pathology) – READ
The 1918 pandemic killed nearly 700 000 Americans and 40 million people worldwide” [that estimate has doubled since previous publications, in 1997 it was 20 million from same author!, CDC now like 50 million!]
The figure quoted of “30,000” die each year from influenza in US is based on alleged estimates here Simonsen et al. 2000; and here Thompson et al. 2003 – REF) [Lets throw darts!]
2005
October 6, 2005 – Nature: Characterization of the 1918 influenza virus polymerase genes – Jeffery Taubenberger et al – READ, National Geographic – CREDIT
Claim to have found the RNA virus (after 75 years) that caused 1918 influenza – isolated from frozen 1918 human lung tissue
“This study was partially supported by a grant to J.K.T. from National Institutes of Health (NIH), and by intramural funds from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.”…”The opinions contained herein are the private views of the authors…”
“When the complete sequence of the 1918 virus was published in 2005, it represented a watershed event for influenza researchers worldwide. – REF
2006
March 2006 – Proc Am. Philos. Soc. – The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Virus by Taubenberger – READ
January 2006 – CDC: 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics by Taubenberger & Morens – READ
“In 1995, a scientific team identified archival influenza autopsy materials collected in the autumn of 1918 and began the slow process of sequencing small viral RNA fragments to determine the genomic structure of the causative influenza virus – READ
“The disease was exceptionally severe. Case-fatality rates (CFR) were >2.5%, compared to <0.1% in other influenza pandemics”
“By the early 1990s, 75 years of research had failed to answer a most basic question about the 1918 pandemic: why was it so fatal?” [Indeed why!]
Why Did the 1918 Virus Kill So Many Healthy Young Adults?
The “age-specific death rates in the 1918 pandemic exhibited a distinct pattern that has not been documented before or since: a “W-shaped” curve,” – VIEW
1997 Science: Initial genetic characterization of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza virus by Taubenberger et al – READ (reference that it killed at least 20 million people)
2007
January 2007 – Antiviral Therapy Journal: Discovery and Characterization of the 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus in Historical Context – by NIAID’s Jeffery K Taubenberger, Johan V Hultin, and David M Morens – READ
“2005 completion of the entire genome sequence of the 1918 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus represents both a beginning and an end.”
July 2, 2007 – Eurak Alert PRESS RELEASE: Scientists describe how 1918 influenza virus sample was exhumed in Alaska – Finding critical to future pandemic planning – by NIAID – READ
July 4, 2007 – Science Daily: Scientists Describe How 1918 Influenza Virus Sample Was Exhumed In Alaska – READ
“When the complete sequence of the 1918 virus was published in 2005, it represented a watershed event for influenza researchers worldwide.”
2008
October 1, 2008 – Journal of Infectious Diseases: Predominant Role of Bacterial Pneumonia as a Cause of Death in Pandemic Influenza: Implications for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness – by David Morens, Jeffery Taubenberger, Anthony Fauci – READ, CREDIT
“The postmortem samples we examined from people who died of influenza during 1918–1919 uniformly exhibited severe changes indicative of bacterial pneumonia.”
2017
November 15, 2017 – TEDxOmaha: The truth about quackery by Lydia Kang “Leeches, bloodletting, and radioactive cures” as practiced by Medical Science physicians of the past is not quackery! – WATCH
100 years on from the Spanish Flu and the medical profession, who still has no cure for most ailments just treatments to make symptoms go awasy – is attacking “Quackery”
2021
May 24, 2021 – The Atlantic: A Clue to Why the 1918 Pandemic Came Back Stronger Than Before – Three 103-year-old-lung samples hinted at how the flu mutated to become more deadly. – READ
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, a virologist at the Robert Koch Institute, in Berlin,…stumbled upon several lung specimens from 1918…”Despite the flu pandemic’s notoriety, the virus that caused it is still poorly understood.”
“Calvignac-Spencer and his colleagues ultimately tested 13 lung specimens and found evidence of flu in three. One was from a 17-year-old girl who died in Munich sometime in 1918. The two others were from teenage soldiers who both died in Berlin on June 27, 1918.” [This date is before the “deadly” part of the pandemic?]
“The team was able to recover a complete flu-virus genome from the 17-year-old girl’s lung tissue—only the third ever found”
May 14, 2021 – BioRxiv pre print: Archival influenza virus genomes from Europe reveal genomic and phenotypic variability during the 1918 pandemic by Patrono et al (includes Jeffery K Taubenberger, David Morens) – READ, Now peer reviewed in Nature Communications – READ
