1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. Over the last few weeks, we have 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: understandably gotten several requests to talk about the nineteen eighteen 3 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: flu pandemic. That is a topic we covered back on 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: May twelve, and we are re airing it today. We 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: gotta make a couple of clarifications. In this episode. We 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,240 Speaker 1: say that public health officials recommended that people wear masks 7 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: to protect them from contracting the disease, and that this 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: was completely ineffective. That is true, but we should note 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: that if a person is ill, the right mask worn't 10 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: correctly can help them from infecting other people. Also, from 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: time to time, folks who find this old episode in 12 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: the archived have written in to say that the pandemic 13 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: starting point was in Fort Riley, Kansas. That is one 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,639 Speaker 1: of the potential starting points for this pandemic, but there 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: are other possibilities as well, which are discussed in the 16 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: episode Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class production 17 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 18 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry and Holly 19 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: so we don't normally start out with corrections. Very first 20 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: thing that I need to do that today, Okay, So 21 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: you remember our our pig war episode where we talked about, uh, 22 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: you know, a war that almost happened because of a 23 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,559 Speaker 1: pig I do. I accidentally said in that episode that 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: somebody traveled via the Panama Canal to get out to 25 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: that part of the world. Ye, so that was wrong. 26 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: It was a little whoopsie daisy. That was yes, that 27 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: was my source said via Panama, and my dumb brain 28 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: just filled in the part that says canal there. The 29 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: canal did not exist yet. I'm very sorry. Please stop 30 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: emailing us about here's what I'm saying. If that's the 31 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: worst crime you commit, I think we're in pretty good hands. 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: I know. I think this is maybe like that was 33 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: maybe the second hugest, most email generating error in the podcast. 34 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: And I'm not even going to mention what the other 35 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: wood was because we haven't gotten a message about it 36 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: and maybe six months, and it's from years before we 37 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: came on the show, like you're still getting corrections about 38 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: it when we started. So yes, I am so sorry 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: that I auto completed something that was not built yet 40 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: in the world. Uh. And I'll try not to do 41 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: that again. And today we're gonna talk about something completely different, Yes, 42 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: so just not long ago at all. We asked on 43 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: Facebook for people to tell us some ideas of things 44 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: that they wanted to talk about that were events in history, 45 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: because we have lots of episodes about people, and some 46 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: people prefer events, and for whatever reason, whatever I sit 47 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: down to do the podcast, my brain turns up people 48 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: a lot of because to you so weird. Even if 49 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: I try to pick a subject that is not a 50 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: people and is an event eventually sort of as the 51 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: notes and the plotline or kind of playing out as 52 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: I'm doing my research, it almost always had the focusing 53 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: on one particular person that was part of it. I 54 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: don't know if that's just some sort of brain situation 55 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: that it wants to focus on one smaller piece or what, 56 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: but it happens. It's tricky to pick an event and 57 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: not do that for me. Well, conveniently, the event that 58 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: people asked for the absolute most was the wreck of 59 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: the Batavia, which at that point we had already recorded 60 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: and edited and it was just waiting to be published. 61 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,359 Speaker 1: So that worked out really well. We delivered so quickly 62 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 1: without meeting to you. I know. We had a couple 63 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: of other things that were maybe not quite as much 64 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: as heavily requested at that one, but extremely frequently requested. 65 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: And one of them is what we're going to talk 66 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: about today, which is the so called Spanish flu epidemic 67 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,119 Speaker 1: of nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen. So somewhere between twenty 68 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: million and fifty million people died of the flu during 69 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: this epidemic, which started just as World War One was 70 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: winding down. So a lot of our past episodes that 71 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: are about diseases are really about the people who saved 72 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: us from them. So like our smallpox episode is all 73 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: about Edward Jenner and his smallpox vaccine, and our tuberculosis 74 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: episode is all about Salmon Watsman and Albert shots and 75 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: the discovery of streptomycin, which was the first antibiotic that 76 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: could treat it. Sarah and Deblina's episode called Polio the 77 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: Dread Disease is also largely about the vaccines that have 78 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: nearly eradicated polio from the world, but the story of 79 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: the flu pandemic of eighteen and nineteen nineteen is not 80 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: that has a lot more in common with our episode 81 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 1: about encephalitis lethargica, which also happened right about the same 82 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: time the flu epidemic is probably why a disease that 83 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: was as crazy and terrifying as as encephalitis lethargic is 84 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: not a better known event in medical history. Uh. The 85 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: flu just completely overshadowed it because it killed so many people. 86 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: But like encephalita lethargica, the pandemic flu came and it went. 87 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: Nobody could treat it, nobody could cure it. A fifth 88 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: of the people in the world got the flu that 89 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: during the pandemic, and UH. Usually, while the typical flu 90 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: is hardest on elderly people and the very young, this 91 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: time it was deadliest among twenty year olds, and in 92 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: that age bracket. It was so lethal that in the 93 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: United States, for example, the average life expectancy dropped by 94 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,840 Speaker 1: more than a decade just as a result of how 95 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: many people died from the flu, which is scary. I 96 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: feel like I should confess that I have this completely 97 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: unfounded fear that I will die of a random flu. 98 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: This is also why we are doing the episode now 99 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: and not at the height of flu season, as we're 100 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: exiting flu season. I mean, every time I get the flu, 101 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: my thought is this is the one that's gonna take 102 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: me down. So UM, hopefully I won't have any panic 103 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: attacks while we record. Yeah, I will keep my fingers. 104 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: So before we start, though, we should talk a little 105 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: bit about what the world of medicine and what public 106 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: health were like in nineteen eighteen. So in many parts 107 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: of the world, nations hadn't really standardized or regulated what 108 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: was required for a person to call themselves a doctor, 109 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: so people practiced medicine with all kinds of different credentials 110 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: or with no credentials, and patent medicines which really didn't 111 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,679 Speaker 1: have any medical value. And we're mostly alcohol and ladana 112 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: most of the time, we're still pretty prevalent. There was 113 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff floating around that was just not 114 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: legitimate for treating anything. And at this point, Alexander Fleming 115 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: had not yet discovered penicillin. That was still a decade away, 116 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: and its use as a drug was even further out 117 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: than that. So penicillin wouldn't have helped fight the flu, 118 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: since influenza is a virus and penicillin kills bacteria, but 119 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:54,559 Speaker 1: it might have helped some of the people who wound 120 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,600 Speaker 1: up with bacterial pneumonia after contracting the flu. And this 121 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: is more just to sort of point out a milestone 122 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: of where we were in medicine when this flu epidemic 123 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: was happening. Yeah, So, in spite of some of these 124 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: things that we think of as basics today, like requiring 125 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: people to be trained to call themselves doctors and antibiotics 126 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: and things like that, things had really advanced a lot 127 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: in the world of medicine over the past century. Before 128 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: the epidemics started. Most parts of the industrialized world at 129 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: this point had understood and accepted the germ theory of disease. 130 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: So at this point pretty much everyone was on the 131 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: same page in most places, uh that germs caused disease, 132 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: and doctors had also figured out exactly which germs caused 133 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: a number of diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera. The 134 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: idea of a reportable disease are one so dangerous that 135 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: all cases of it needed to be reported to government 136 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: authorities also existed. But even though there had been another 137 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: serious flu epidemic a couple of decades before, influenza wasn't 138 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: really really portable in most places until this particular epidemic 139 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: had really gotten dire, and at that point it was 140 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: too late for warning the government to do really any good. Yeah, 141 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: what they already knew there was a big problem. By 142 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: the time people were able to start saying, hey, there's 143 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: a big problem, vaccines also existed. There was a vaccine 144 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: for smallpox, there was a vaccine for rabies. Other vaccines 145 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: were also in the works, and people really thought as 146 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: the as the epidemic got going that a vaccine for 147 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: the flu was just around the corner. As we talked 148 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: about in the Encephalitis lethargica episode, though, figuring out how 149 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: to make a vaccine for a disease when you don't 150 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: know what's causing the disease is really hard, and not 151 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: only did doctors not know what was causing the flu, 152 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: they also had it panned on a completely different germ. 153 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: They thought it had a totally different cause than it 154 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: really did have. So at the start of the epidemic, 155 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: the purported culprit for the flu was a bacterium that 156 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: had been named Fifer's basilius after its discoverer, who was 157 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: a German scientist named Robert Friedrich Pfeiffer, and he made 158 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: the connection between his Baxillus and the flu, but he 159 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: hadn't really proved this connection, and as the epidemic war on, 160 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,119 Speaker 1: it became abundantly clear that Phifer was wrong. The baxillus 161 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: he discovered was not present in sick patients, and deliberately 162 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: exposing people to it didn't give them the flu. So 163 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: even though an international team was dedicated to trying to 164 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: create a vaccine, none of their work proved effective, and 165 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: at first they were after the wrong germ, and then 166 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 1: they didn't have a good starting point. So all of 167 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: this together combines to mean that when the flu turned 168 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: really deadly in nineteen eighteen, there was not much that 169 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: legitimate doctors could do for their patients besides to keep 170 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: them in bed and keep them as fed and hydrated 171 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: and comfortable as possible. The most most of the things 172 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: that had any efficacy at all were about prevention, which 173 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: basically involved keeping the sick people quarantined and trying to 174 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: educate people about how to keep themselves from being exposed. 175 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: And doctors knew that the flu was spread by coughing 176 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,439 Speaker 1: and sneezing, so they gave the common sense advice about 177 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: covering your nose and mouth and staying away from people 178 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: who were coughing and sneezing. Oh and also telling people 179 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: not to spit on the ground, so don't spit on 180 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: the ground, please. You know, their debates over whether that's 181 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: a civil way to behave in general. But uh, sick 182 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:33,679 Speaker 1: people don't spread no spitting. It's gross and it spreads illness. 183 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: So there were also a lot of public health campaigns 184 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: that were trying to get people who were sick to 185 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: stay at home, which probably sounds kind of familiar to 186 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: when there's a big flu outbreak today. Uh. They especially, 187 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,719 Speaker 1: we're trying to educate people who were sick to get 188 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 1: them to stay away from crowds. And businesses got in 189 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: on the deal to trying to warn people who were 190 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: ill to go home. So a sign at one theater 191 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 1: in Chicago read, influenza frequently complicated with pneumonia is prevalent 192 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: at this time throughout America. This theater is cooperating with 193 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: the Department of Health. You must do the same. If 194 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: you have a cold and are coughing and sneezing, do 195 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: not enter this theater. And then in all capital letters, 196 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: go home and go to bed until you are well. 197 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: That seems wise. Not all of the advice on prevention 198 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: was sound, though. Many people in public health recommended that 199 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: people wear masks, and some places even required that masks 200 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: be worn by law, but this was in fact not effective. Yeah, 201 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 1: masks are kind of effective when there's bacteria involved, but 202 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: when it's a virus, the viruses are just too small. 203 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 1: Before we get into how this disease spread and where 204 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: it was first reported and all that, let's take a 205 00:11:52,240 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: brief moment for a word from a sponsor, So back 206 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: to exactly what happened when this disease made its debut. 207 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: The first reports of flu in this pandemic came in 208 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: May of nineteen eighteen in Europe, and the first reports 209 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: were amongst soldiers, so large numbers of otherwise healthy young 210 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 1: troops were just becoming really ill with flu like symptoms. 211 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,959 Speaker 1: So they were getting coughing and sneezing and body aches. 212 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: Most of them were recovering within a few days, and 213 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: apart from the fact that this was disrupting a war, 214 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: it was not a really big deal. But then the 215 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: disease jumped from the military to civilians in Europe, and 216 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: from there it spread to most of the rest of 217 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: the world over the course of just a couple of months. 218 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: It was still a relatively mild disease, much like the 219 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: seasonal flu. Most of us have had at one time 220 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: or another in our lives. It wasn't pleasant, but it 221 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: was also not especially alarming. This disease faded away later 222 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: in the summer, but then in August it mutated and 223 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: became really a lot more serious. This terrifying strain of 224 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: the flu was reported in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, 225 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and then Breast, France. And these 226 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: were all ports cities, so it's possible that the disease 227 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: had spread between three of them on ships, and this time, 228 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: along with the typical flu symptoms of coughing and sneezing 229 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: and a sore throat and body aches, the disease caused 230 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: very high fevers between a hundred and two and a 231 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: hundred five degrees Fahrenheim. Patients felt exhausted and their eyes 232 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: became bloodshot, and some even had severe nosebleeds or gastro 233 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: intestinal problems. Even though this flu was a lot worse 234 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: from the flu that had spread earlier in the spring, 235 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: a lot of people still recovered, but a pretty substantial 236 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: portion of people developed a devastating pneumonia, which was caused 237 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: by one of a number of bacteria. It was a 238 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: secondary infection that was like a complication of this flu. 239 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: Their lungs filled up with fluid and started hemorrhaging, and 240 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: death often came alarmingly fast, with people going from sitting 241 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: upright and talking to being dead within hours. See these 242 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: are the stories that make me paranoid about the flu. 243 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:11,719 Speaker 1: This is this is why I read an article when 244 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: I was working on this about that episode of the 245 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: about the flu pandemic that was in the Down n 246 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: Abbey TV show. Yeah, so spoiler alert for Down n Abbey. 247 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: It's similarly, uh, make some people in the household really 248 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: really sick, and it has one There's one particular character 249 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: who goes from being she's sick, She's has she has 250 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: the flu. She goes from I'm sick with the flu 251 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: two I'm dead end an episode which is not uncommon 252 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: for TV, but also was really how it worked. So 253 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: when doctors performed autopsies on these patients who had died, 254 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: they found that their lungs and their spleens were just 255 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: grotesquely swollen. So a description from a doctor who was 256 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: stationed at Fort Devan's outside Boston from that September, here's 257 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: what he had to say. This epidemic started about four 258 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: weeks ago and has developed so rapidly that the camp 259 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: is demoralized and all ordinary work is held up till 260 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: it has passed. These men start with what appears to 261 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: be an ordinary attack of la grippa or influenza, and 262 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: when brought to the hosp so abbreviation for hospital. When 263 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: brought to the hosp they very rapidly developed the most 264 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: viscus type of pneumonia that has ever been seen. Two 265 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: hours after admission they have the mahogany spots over the cheekbones, 266 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: and a few hours later you can begin to see 267 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: the cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over 268 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: the face, until it is hard to distinguish the colored 269 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: men from the white. It is only a matter of 270 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: a few hours then until death comes, and it is 271 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: simply a struggle for air until they suffocate. It is horrible. 272 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: One can stand to see one, two, or twenty men die, 273 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: but to see these poor devils dropping like flies sort 274 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: of gets on your nerves. We have been averaging about 275 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: one deaths per day and and still keeping it up. 276 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: There is no doubt in my mind that there is 277 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: a new mixed infection here. But what I don't know, 278 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: and from the port cities where this really started sort 279 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: of blossoming outward, the disease spread really rapidly over the 280 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: next couple of months. It's spread all over the world, 281 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: and then it too faded out, although another mild wave 282 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: of flu went on around early nine It's hard to 283 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: pinpoint exactly how many people died during the pandemic. Medical 284 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: records from the era were already kind of sketchy even 285 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: before you threw a devastating pandemic into the mix. To 286 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: make things even more chaotic, doctors often misdiagnosed milder forms 287 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: of the flu is common colds, and sometimes they diagnosed 288 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: this much more serious version as another disease entirely like cholera. 289 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: The disease also moved so quickly that public health agencies 290 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: could not accurately track what was happening. So in the 291 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: decade after the pandemic, the estimated global death toll was 292 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: twenty million people, but modern researchers who have gone back 293 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: and tried to reconstruct things have marked the number as 294 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: much higher, Between thirty million and fifty million people died worldwide, 295 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: So that sort of leaves us to wonder why this 296 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: particular flu was so incredibly bad. Uh. We know that 297 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: the war often takes a giant share of the blame 298 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: for the spread of the flu pandemic, And it's definitely 299 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: true that the flu followed the troops and that it 300 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: spread like wildfire amongst soldiers in close quarters, and the 301 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: soldiers returning home from the war brought the disease with them. 302 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: Battlefield injuries and other illnesses also made it harder for 303 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: soldiers to fight off the flu, so camps for the 304 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: war were basically like flu incubators. It's also definitely true 305 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: that the war meant that a lot of the medical 306 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: personnel who were trained at the time had been tasked 307 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: to help with the military, and so they were not 308 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: available to help the civilian population. As the epidemics started 309 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: to spread, communities in more rural areas asked their various 310 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: government organizations to please send doctors and nurses to help them, 311 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,440 Speaker 1: but often the few who weren't part of the war 312 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,679 Speaker 1: effort fell victim to the flu themselves while they were 313 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: traveling to their patients. But it really it wasn't just 314 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: about the soldiers or the effects of the war. Even 315 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: if the epidemic had happened during peacetime. Hospitals just wouldn't 316 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: have been able to handle the influx of so many patients. 317 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: Temporary hospitals had to be built in churches and schools 318 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: and community centers, and some hospitals even expanded their capacity 319 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: by housing their patients intents on hospital grounds. And the 320 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: way of life in the late nineteen teens also played 321 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 1: a big role in the spread of the disease. Cars 322 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: were not in widespread use at this point, and many 323 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: larger cities around the world had developed extensive public transportation systems, 324 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: so that was bringing sick and healthy people into contact 325 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 1: with each other on street cars, on trolleys, and on subways. 326 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 1: And several parts of the world people were also traveling 327 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: really extensively by train, so, for example, in the United States, 328 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: train travel peaked in nineteen twenty, just a year after 329 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 1: the epidemic, and these long trips in close quarters similarly, 330 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: UH fueled the spread of the disease. Some of the 331 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,360 Speaker 1: most popular leisure activities in nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen 332 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: also drew big crowds. So movie theaters had become affordable, 333 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,199 Speaker 1: they were extremely popular, and they were very widespread. They 334 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: were everywhere, and that made them a hotbed of infection. UH. 335 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: There were also dance halls and amusement parks, and in 336 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,640 Speaker 1: many places governments restricted activities or shut them down entirely 337 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: to try to keep people from gathering. Some towns even 338 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: canceled school UH and canceled church services, and universities suspended 339 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: their operations in an effort to just sort of stop 340 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: this spread that was going on everywhere people gathered. Cities 341 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: also shut down or restricted their public transport Asian systems 342 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 1: that were at this point so popular, and drivers, either 343 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: with their city's authority or acting on their own, would 344 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: refuse to carry passengers who weren't wearing masks or who 345 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: they suspected to be ill. And although all of these 346 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,880 Speaker 1: factors have been about industry, people in rural and developing 347 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,959 Speaker 1: areas were not spared in the least in the United States, 348 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: the Eskimo population was disproportionately hit with the flu, and 349 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: in rural and developing areas, people were left with no 350 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: medical care and very little reliable information about what was 351 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,480 Speaker 1: actually going on or what they could possibly do about it. 352 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: The lore, which took so much of the blame for 353 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 1: spreading the disease wound up ultimately killing sixty million people, 354 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: but that number was just dwarfed by the total death 355 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: toll from the flu. So before we talk about the 356 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: aftermath of of this devastation, let's take another brief moment 357 00:20:53,160 --> 00:21:03,679 Speaker 1: and have a word from a sponsor, so to to 358 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: get back to the aftermath of this this flu pandemic. 359 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: On top of the astounding loss of life, the flu 360 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: pandemic had a lot of economic and social impacts. So 361 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: many people were sick that public and municipal services completely 362 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 1: shut down because there was nobody left to do the work. 363 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: Garbage was piling up in the streets in cities were 364 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 1: sanitation workers were particularly hard hit. Telegraph systems failed when 365 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 1: there were not enough operators that were healthy enough to 366 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: come into work. Kind of reminds me of stories about 367 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,360 Speaker 1: the Black Death and how so many people would die 368 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: that there was no one left to bury them. Yeah, 369 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 1: small businesses went bankrupt because their proprietors became too sick 370 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: to work or they died. And then insurance companies also 371 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 1: went bankrupt because their incoming claims skyrocketed. If trains were 372 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: found to have sick people aboard stations along the routes 373 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: would actually forbid them from stopping, so even the ones 374 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: that we're working were subject to some you know, limitation then, 375 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: and then that trickled down with its own effects of 376 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: people not being able to get to where they needed 377 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: to go. The public was also often really genuinely panicked, 378 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,640 Speaker 1: and governments took steps to try to maintain calm, including 379 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,479 Speaker 1: trying to filter or suppress information about the pandemic. So 380 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: the telegraph was one of the primary modes of communication 381 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: at this point. The telephone had been invented, but it 382 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: was still extremely expensive, not at all prevalent in places 383 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,479 Speaker 1: that weren't very affluent or places that were rural, so 384 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: a lot of people were relying completely on the telegraph 385 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: to communicate with people over long distances. Telegraphs ran on 386 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,600 Speaker 1: a network of human operators who were privy to everything 387 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: that was being transmitted because they were the ones that 388 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,159 Speaker 1: were sending out the codes. So in the United States, 389 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: for example, the Public Health Service gave all of its 390 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: officers codebooks to use anytime they were sending information about 391 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: the pandemic. So the tele the telegraph operators wouldn't be 392 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: able to figure out what was being said and go 393 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: spread an alarm among other people, and once it was 394 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: all over, perhaps because it had been so terrifying, and 395 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: perhaps because it came on the heels of a war 396 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,879 Speaker 1: that had stretched on for years, most people really just 397 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: seemed to want to forget that the whole thing had happened, 398 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: and so for a long time, research into its cause 399 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: and its progression were actually quite minimal. In October of 400 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, so as the epidemic was still going on, 401 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 1: doctors began to correctly theorize that the flu was caused 402 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: by a virus and not a bacteria, But influenza A 403 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: virus wasn't isolated until many years later, in nineteen thirty three. 404 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: Influenza A is what causes most epidemic strains of the 405 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: flu to other types. Influenza B and C weren't isolated 406 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: until nineteen forty and nineteen fifty, respectively, and the vaccine 407 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: didn't come around until nineteen forty four. And because the 408 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: flu mutates every year, the vaccine has to change every 409 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: year to keep up. This is why the vaccine provides 410 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: better action some years than others, because some years it's 411 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: just a better match to what's actually happening, and it 412 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: keeps up with the mutation right. Other, although less deadly 413 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: pandemics also followed in nineteen fifty seven and fifty eight, 414 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,400 Speaker 1: and then again in nineteen sixty eight and sixty nine. 415 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: There was also the H one and one swine flu 416 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:24,159 Speaker 1: pandemic in two thousand nine, and other flu seasons have 417 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: also had the potential to turn into pandemic flu, but 418 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: ultimately didn't. Scientists continue to study the nineteen eighteen nineteen 419 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic to try to figure out exactly what made 420 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: it so bad in the hopes of preventing another UH 421 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: similar situation in the future. They've done things like tried 422 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: to reverse engineer the genes of the nineteen eighteen version 423 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,200 Speaker 1: of the flu and try to figure out what modern 424 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,400 Speaker 1: drugs might be effective against something like that. In two 425 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: thousand five, researchers sequenced the genome of the flu virus. 426 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: They used samples from the body of an Inuit woman 427 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: who had been buried in a mass grave after the 428 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: flu killed nine of her village, and according to this research, 429 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 1: the flu came from an H one and one avian virus. 430 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: The sort of scientific verdict since then has flipped back 431 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: and forth a little about whether the pandemic flu came 432 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: from an avian or a swine origin, And then in 433 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: February of UH, an article published in the journal Nature 434 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: put the primary theory back to being an avian origin. 435 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,919 Speaker 1: In January of historian Mark Humphreys published a paper in 436 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: the journal War in History theorizing a potential cause for 437 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: the pandemic. During World War One, ninety six thousand Chinese 438 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: workers were transported by rail to work on the Western Front. 439 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,359 Speaker 1: He found medical records describing a respiratory virus that broke 440 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,879 Speaker 1: out in southern China the year before, one that Chinese 441 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,400 Speaker 1: officials later said was identical to the so called Spanish flu. 442 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: About three thousand of the workers were quarantined with flu 443 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: like symptom. Racist doctors called the sick workers lazy and 444 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: then sent them back to their camps. And at the 445 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: time of his papers publication, he was waiting on test 446 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: results from samples for confirmation. Yeah, this is one of 447 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,239 Speaker 1: those things where, at least according to everything that I 448 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,439 Speaker 1: was reading about it, UH, tests should confirm this theory. 449 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: But at this point a lot of people are like, yeah, 450 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: that makes a lot of sense. Um, So obviously that 451 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: means that this had nothing really to do with Spain. 452 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: We've left this for the end that the name Spanish 453 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:36,440 Speaker 1: flu only came about because Spain's press was uncensored at 454 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: the time, so most of the earliest information that people 455 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: got about the illness came from Spain, where people weren't 456 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: restricting the information that was published about it. So it 457 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: really got its unfortunate uh association, just by the fact 458 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: that they were the most informative and they were really 459 00:26:54,440 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: there being the least obfuscating about what was happening. So, yeah, 460 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 1: this whole story is really alarming to me. I have, 461 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,400 Speaker 1: or I had when I was young. I had a 462 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: living great grandfather who was born in nine and so 463 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: things didn't seem like they were in the distant past 464 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 1: to me until they had happened before he had been born. 465 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,359 Speaker 1: So when I was little, the fact that this whole 466 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: thing had happened while he was alive, I was like, 467 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: this could happen again right now because that is in 468 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: the extremely recent past. And now as an adult, I 469 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: still think this could really happen again right now, But 470 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: it's not because of like the state of medical knowledge 471 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: is just because viruses can be terrifying. Yeah, like I said, 472 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: I have a completely irrational level of fear of the flu. 473 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,360 Speaker 1: I don't know why. I don't know where that came from. 474 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: It's just it's irrational. Exercise caution, Wash'd say my level 475 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: of fear of it is irrational. Okay, that that maybe 476 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: maybe I could say this thing I won't overshare. But 477 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: last week I had a brief visit from food poisoning, 478 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: and I immediately my brain started whirling with that, Oh 479 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:09,959 Speaker 1: my gosh, no, what if this is some really terrible 480 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: version of the flu and I will be patient zero. 481 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: It's irrational. Yeah, I think the thing that's made me 482 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,359 Speaker 1: most afraid of illnesses like this is a game that 483 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:24,120 Speaker 1: I've played on the iPad called Plague Incorporated, where basically 484 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: you try to make your plague kill everyone in the world, 485 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,399 Speaker 1: and like, there's there are ways you can do it 486 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: where it just basically spreads silently among everyone and then 487 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: it turns completely deadly. And whenever I see that happen, 488 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: I'm like that that could happen. It could really happen. 489 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: I like how your entertainment choices are reinforcing your fears. 490 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: That's really good. Sometimes that's what happens. Yes, thank you 491 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: so much. For joining us today for this Saturday classic. 492 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: If you have heard any kind of email address or 493 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: maybe a Facebook you are l during the course of 494 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: the episode that might be obsolete, might be doubly obsolete 495 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: because we have changed our email address again. You can 496 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: now reach us at history Podcasts at i heart radio 497 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: dot com, and we're all over social media at missed 498 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: in History and you can subscribe to our show on 499 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I heart Radio app, and 500 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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