Frail People Perished During 1918 Flu Based on Skeletal Evidence [Study]

Thousands of people died from the 1918 killer flu. However, according to a new study, the disease didn't pick on the healthy ones.

1918 Flu Spared The Healthy Individuals

A new analysis of skeletons from the 1918-19 flu challenges the notion that the pandemic killing up to 50 million people targeted many young and healthy individuals. Instead, the new study suggests that people who were already frail were the most likely to succumb, as is true for most pandemics.

"It's an important study," said epidemiologist Andrew Noymer of the University of California. Another, who wasn't connected to the research, pointed out that the study was relevant because it helped set the record straight about the 1918 pandemic.

During the 1918-19 flu pandemic, medical professionals and other observers noticed a significant death rate among young, seemingly healthy individuals. One group said that young individuals in the early 20th century had only ever experienced various strains of the flu virus, which first became common in the late 1880s. Their immune systems weren't equipped to handle the 1918-19 pandemic virus when it arrived. Conversely, older individuals had a degree of protection as they had previously been exposed to influenza viruses more comparable to the pandemic virus. Other researchers attribute the problem to the strong immune systems of young adults, saying that they overreacted to the infection and caused a deadly inflammatory response.

However, the new study suggests otherwise. The researchers examined the participants' shinbones for lesions that can indicate issues like starvation, injuries, or disease to determine their physical state at the time of death. A healed lesion suggests that the condition has been overcome, a healing lesion indicates that the recovery process is in progress, and an active lesion means that the issue is still present.

"People with active lesions on their shins are probably the most frail," said anthropologist Amanda Wissler of McMaster University.

Unsurprisingly, she and Sharon DeWitte, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado, found that frail persons had a higher mortality rate than healthy people before the flu pandemic. People with active lesions only lived to a median age of 39, while those with healed lesions lived to a median age of 45.

Contrary to popular belief, however, those already ill continued to be the most susceptible as the flu spread throughout the city. According to the researchers, a person with an active lesion was roughly three times more likely to pass away during this time than a person whose lesion was healing. Persons with cured lesions lived around 2.5 years longer than frail persons, who only lived until age 36. People with active lesions don't fare as well as those without them, according to a regular pattern, DeWitte says.

Wissler and DeWitte warn that the data does not challenge the conventional wisdom that mortality increased sharply among young people during the flu pandemic. The fact that the illness was so fatal and claimed the lives of those who would have been expected to survive helped the illness establish a reputation for preying on healthy people, according to Wissler. She claims that those who otherwise wouldn't have passed away did.

Great Flu of 1918

In 1918, the world and the United States were devastated by influenza, notably the Spanish flu. Over 21 million people were killed by the microscopic murderer as it made a full rotation of the earth in just four months. More Americans died from the Spanish flu in 1918 the United States than from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. 675,000 individuals. Pharmaceutical firms rushed nonstop to develop a vaccine to fend off the Spanish flu, but it was too late. Before they had isolated the virus, it vanished.

Despite its name, scientists think the Spanish flu most likely started in America. On March 11, 1918, at Fort Riley in Kansas, one of the earliest occurrences was officially documented.

The influenza outbreak in the United States started to fade by May 1918.

Whatever name they gave it, the virus affected everyone similarly. It began with a sore throat, chills, and fever, like any typical influenza infection. The virus then turned lethal, wreaking havoc on the lungs of its victim. Patients would occasionally pass away from respiratory failure within hours.

Autopsies revealed fluid-drenched, rigid, red lungs. Alveoli, the normally air-filled cells in the lungs, were found to be full of fluid when sick lung tissue was examined under a microscope. This caused patients actually to drown.

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