THE grip andspanish was the name that received a pandemic of influenza virus that has spread around the world between 1918 and 1919. Historians and health experts to this day do not know the exact location where this new type of flu emerged. The outbreak took advantage of the First World War and quickly spread around the world, causing the death of about 50 million people, although some statistics speak of up to 100 million dead.
THE disease arrived in Brazil around September 1918 and spread to large cities, especially Salvador, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The city of São Paulo, for example, may have had up to 350 thousand infected people. Important personalities of the time were reached, such as RodriguesAlves, elected President of the Republic in 1918, but who did not take office because he died.
Accessalso: COVID-19, the disease that has caused the latest pandemic of the 21st century
Name origin
THEgrip andspanish got its name because it was an influenza virus outbreak that arose in Spain, right? Wrong. Historians know that the Spanish flu
did not appear in Spain, but received this name due to the strong publicity of the problem in the Spanish press.By the time the disease spread, the world was going through World War I, and the great Western powers had been involved in the conflict for years. For this reason, the press in these countries was heavily censored – that's because they spread the news that the flu Spanish troops had affected their troops could be very bad for the morale of the soldiers and could spread panic in the population. So these places started to censor related news with the disease.
As Spain was not involved in the war, there was no need to censor the press and so news about the disease spread based on what the Spanish press reported. That's why the pandemic was called the Spanish flu.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Where did the flu start? andspanish?
Unfortunately, historians and scientists do not have enough information to allow them to pinpoint the exact location of the onset of this disease. Still, there are some theories about the likely locations in which the Spanish flu may have appeared: StatesUnited, China and KingdomUnited.
THE most accepted theory by scholars of the subject is that the Spanish flu would have arisen in military training camps in the United States. That's because the first cases of the disease were also registered there. These cases happened to workers at a factory in Detroit and soldiers installed in a military camp in the state of Kansas.
Accessalso: Black Death - the disease that killed 1/3 of the European population
Disease spread
Another element that reinforces that the Spanish flu appeared in the United States is that it spread through the Europe soon after US soldiers were sent to the front in this continent. Thus, the contact of infected soldiers with people in the most varied places allowed the spread of the disease across the European continent, especially in the war fronts.
The researcher Christiane Maria Cruz de Sousa claims that the Spanish flu spread inthreewaves of contagion, between March 1918 and May 1919|1|. Among these waves, the second, which began in August 1918, was the worst of them, as it was the most contagious, causing the death of millions of people.
As early as April 1918, British and French troops registered the first ones contaminated by the Spanish flu and, in the following months, a number of European countries presented their first cases of the disease: Greece, Spain, Denmark, etc. In the second wave of the disease, which took place between August and December 1918, Asia, Africa, Central and South America were affected.
The second wave of spread of the Spanish flu made the alarming situation in various parts of the planet because the number of infected people soared and the symptoms registered became very severe, which contributed to the mortality rate soaring. Those who got sick had fever, body ache, runny nose, cough, among other symptoms.
In the most severe cases, the patients presented bassproblemsrespiratory, difficulty breathing and even digestive and cardiovascular problems. People who recovered from the disease, but contracted it again with aggravated symptoms were also recorded.|2|. Doctors sought to treat patients in whatever way possible, but medical knowledge at the time was still very limited.
Doctors and scientists at the time did not know what caused the disease, as microscopes were unable to see the virus that caused the Spanish flu. Microscopes could see only bacteria, microorganisms larger than a virus.
Some locations have not taken preventive measures needed to fight the Spanish flu and the result was catastrophic. A well-known case is Philadelphia, a city on the east coast of the United States that refused to follow experts' advice to avoid agglomerations.
In this city, in September 1918, a parade of soldiers who were being sent to World War I was held and mobilized about 200,000 people in the streets. The result was the spread of the disease violently and the death of about 16 thousand people in a period of approximately six months |3|.
In more than a year of pandemic, it is estimated that the Spanish flu has caused the death of about 50 million people. Some more alarming estimates suggest that this number may have reached the total of 100 million dead. it is believed that 1/3 of the world population has been affected.
Accessalso: Çoronavirus – the virus family that causes COVID-19
Spanish flu in Brazil
Historians believe that the Spanish flu arrived in Brazil in September 1918, therefore during the second wave of the disease. At first, the Brazilian press did not give much importance for the outbreak, but as the disease spread, the consequences of the problem gained repercussions.
It is said that the Spanish flu arrived in Brazil through the Demerara, a ship that left England, passed through Lisbon and docked in Recife, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. The ship arrived in Brazil on the date mentioned (September 1918) and, in that month, the press in Salvador, for example, reported hundreds of sick people.
Soon the disease spread across the country, as there were no drugs to fight it. The diffusion was fast and affected, above all, the cities ofO Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Although these were the two cities most affected, the entire country was affected, including remote regions such as the Amazon.
As there was no way to cure the disease - the doctors used some medication to alleviate the symptoms and expected the patient's body to react - the recommendations of the authorities were that people avoid crowds, wash their hands frequently and avoid physical contact.
The Spanish flu severely impacted the routine of people in Brazil and caused thousands of deaths. There are data that indicate that the city of São Paulo may have had about 350 thousand cases, which represented more than half of the population of the capital of São Paulo, and a total of 5,331 dead|4|. Rio de Janeiro – at the time the capital of Brazil – registered about 12,700 deaths, which represented 1/3 of the total number of deaths in the country|5|.
The alarming number of cases of Spanish flu in Brazil meant that the Brazilian health system, which was not public, did not support the number of sick people. Missingbedsanddoctors to meet the number of sick people, being necessary improvise beds and hospitals for serving people. To prevent the disease from spreading further, the authorities ordered the closing of bars, factories, schools, theaters, etc.
All kinds of public agglomeration were avoided by the authorities, who were advised by the main experts that Brazil had at the time. The number of dead in a short time also exceeded the capacity for burials that local cemeteries could carry out. There weren't enough coffins and the gravediggers worked frantically. Even time off work was ordered to avoid the spread of the Spanish flu, but this was a luxury that very few people had in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century.
In Rio de Janeiro, Congress and the Senate were closed and, in Salvador, the local press reported the spread of the disease throughout the city. This resulted in the banning of some public services, as well as the ban on holding public events, including festivities and religious services.
The Spanish flu in Brazil even affected RodriguesAlves, winner of the presidential election in 1918. Sick, he could not take office in November 1918 and died in January 1919. It is estimated that, in all, the Spanish flu has caused the death of 35 thousand people here in Brazil.
Grades
|1| SOUZA, Christiane Maria Cruz de. The Spanish Flu in Bahia: health, politics and medicine in times of epidemic. To access, click on here.
|2| SOUZA, Christiane Maria Cruz de. The Spanish flu epidemic: a challenge to Bahian medicine. To access, click on here.
|3| The tragic example of Philadelphia, where street parades caused thousands of deaths from the Spanish flu. To access, click on here.
|4| São Paulo has stopped before: Spanish flu had been looted and cemetery 24h. To access, click on here.
|5| Spanish flu. To access, click on here.
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
