Epidemics of the Past: Influenza: A Twentieth-Century Epidemic
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, starting World War I. Four years and three months later, on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed in Northern France ending ?The Great War.? The death toll was enormous, estimated at 8 to 10 million, but it paled in comparison to the influenza pandemic that also struck in 1918. War, for all its horror and casualties, was actually less deadly than the outbreak of influenza.. In the spring of 1918, soldiers in the trenches in France complained of sore throats, headaches, and general malaise. Most of them recovered quickly, and only a few died. The soldiers called their illness the Spanish Flu although its origins were, and still are, unknown. By summer of that same year, soldiers symptoms became much worse. One in five who got sick developed pneumonia or blood poisoning. Many died. Others developed a strange condition called heliotrope cyanosis?they literally turned ...
Rare and Deadly Diseases: Legionnaires' Disease
Some suggested it was the beginning of an influenza pandemic, since ?Swine Flu? had already started infecting large populations ...
Oklahoma | State Facts & History
... swine, and broilers. ...