Australia's Experience in the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic.

by fulltimestudent 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  fulltimestudent

  I've no idea how my former loving brothers explain the Pale horseman's pandemics (Rev. 6:8) these days, but when I was stupid enough to get involved with them, the "Spanish flu pandemic' was the star example in the jws narrative claiming the end was nigh.

  Anyway, I noted this video on Youtube and though it may interest thoughful readers here.

  
  

  Spanish flu vs COVID-19: An Australian perspective of a pandemic

  This ABC media* video records the experiences of Australians in the 1918-1919 so-called 'Spanish' Flu pandemic. (This pandemic did not start in Spain. Spain was the only neutral nation in Europe in WW1 and its newspapers were not censored censored as were most other nations, so those who knew about the epidemic started referring to it as the 'Spanish flu.'). It is generally accepted that this pandemic first came to notice in a U.S Army camp in Kansas (although, I've seen some claims that it started in Texas). In 1918. Australia's population was 5 million and 15,000 died. The current estimate (maybe that should be (guestimate) is 100 million deaths.

  Australia's national government protected the country for a while by limiting maritime access, but eventually this very contagious pneumonic influenza penetrated that effort to quarantine the nation.

  
  

  * ABC Media is a government owned media group

  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YmOnJim5wU
  
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  fulltimestudent

  A USA/International viewpoint is provided in this video:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDY5COg2P2c
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  fulltimestudent

  Has any work been done on the origins of these dseases?

  Here's a video of Michael Worobey, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Arizona, discussing his rresearch.

  Quote: " The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 was the most intense outbreak of disease in human history. It killed upwards of 50 million people (most in a six-week period) casting a long shadow of fear and mystery: nearly a century later, scientists have been unable to explain why, unlike all other influenza outbreaks, it killed young adults in huge numbers. I will describe how analyses of large numbers of influenza virus genomes are revealing the pathway traveled by the genes of this virus before it exploded in 1918. What emerges is a surprising tale with many players and plot lines, in which echoes of prior pandemics, imprinted in the immune responses of those alive in 1918, set the stage for the catastrophe.I will also discuss how resolving the mysteries of 1918 could help to prevent future pandemics and to control seasonal influenza, which quietly kills millions more every decade."

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Klc3DPdtk