1917-1919 The most lethal influenza pandemic ever killed half a million people worldwide. Its spread was facilitated by troop movements in the closing months of World War I. Mortality rates were unusually high for flu, especially among young, otherwise healthy adults. Deaths occurred both from the flu itself and from secondary pneumonia. Pat

Hi, Pat and all: Need to clarify a statistic here! Don't we wish the 1918 influenza killed "only" half a million people worldwide!! The worldwide death toll was 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 (yes, 20 to 40 MILLION). Now, of course, there are those who think the United States IS the world, but we won't talk about them. <BG> The "half a million" number is the estimated U.S. death toll. Nearly 200,000 of those deaths occurred in the single month of October 1918. I've seen U.S. death estimates as high as 700,000...10 times the number of Americans who were killed in WWI. Nearly 1/2 of the American "doughboys" who died in Europe died of influenza, not from enemy engagement. At 01:54 PM 6/6/2001 EDT, [email protected] wrote: >1917-1919 The most lethal influenza pandemic ever killed half a million >people worldwide. Its spread was facilitated by troop movements in the >closing months of World War I. Mortality rates were unusually high for flu, >especially among young, otherwise healthy adults. Deaths occurred both from >the flu itself and from secondary pneumonia. > >Pat > > > >============================== >Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 >Source for Family History Online. Go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB > >

This should give you an idea of the devastation. There was another link that showed the spread around the world, but I can't find it. http://srd.yahoo.com/goo/flu+map+1918/1/*http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influe nza/maps/ Mary ------------------ Henry & Mary Ward also Sean & Kathleen If at first you do succeed, try something harder. [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 1:54 PM Subject: [WVKANAWH] Influenza Pandemic > 1917-1919 The most lethal influenza pandemic ever killed half a million > people worldwide. Its spread was facilitated by troop movements in the > closing months of World War I. Mortality rates were unusually high for flu, > especially among young, otherwise healthy adults. Deaths occurred both from > the flu itself and from secondary pneumonia. > > Pat > > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB >