Survived Two Pandemics a Century Apart: Anna & Helen

From March 23, 2021, ListVerse "Top 10 Luckiest Unlucky  People Whose Luck Nearly Killed Them" by Jonathan H. Kantor,

 As we all know now, surviving a pandemic is no walk in the park.  Well, how about surviving two of them, a century apart?  Getting infected can be deadly.  It certainly was with the influenza strain A/H1N1 that devastated the world between 1918 and 1920.

The Spanish flu killed  some 20-100 million people, thanks to the fast spread and speed  at which the virus killed infected people.

Two people who were infected back then and managed to survive that first pandemic were Anna del Priorie and her sister Helen, who were young children in that first one.  

While they weren't the only ones to survive that one,  they are among a small group to survive both of them.  Anna and Helen  were 105 & 107 years old respectively when they were infected by COVID-19.  Despite their advanced age the second time they both managed to beat the odds and survive a second time.

--Cooter

Six WW II Innovations That Changed Everyday Life-- Part 1

From April 26, 2021, History site by Becky Little.

Of course, everyone knows about atomic energy and the atom bomb which came out of the war, but there were other developments as well.  Some of these innovations date from before the war, but were able to take off because of it.

1.  FLU VACCINES

The influenza pandemic of WW I motivated the U.S. military to develop the first flu vaccine.  Scientists began to isolate the flu viruses in the 1930s and in the 1940s, the U.S. Army  helped sponsor a vaccine against them.

The U.S. approved the first vaccine for military use in 1945 and for civilian use in 1946.  One of the researchers on this project was Dr. Jonas Salk, the scientist who would later develop the vaccine used to defeat polio.

2.  PENICILLIN

Before the widespread development of antibiotics like penicillin in the U.S., even small cuts or scrapes could lead to deadly infections.  The Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, but it wasn't  until WW II that the U.S. began to produce mass amounts as a medical treatment.

Military surgeons were  amazed at how much the drug reduced pain, increased chances of survival.  The drug was considered so vital to the war effort, that the Allies produced 2.3 million doses of penicillin for the troops to prepare for the D-Day landings.

--GreGen

The Spanish Flu of 1918-- Part 8: Boy, Those 'Cures'?

People tried all sorts of remedies, many of which were advertised in local newspapers and today sound atrocious as medical cures.

Menthoeze, for example, was widely sold in town and consisted of goosefat mixed with turpentine for an inhalation treatment.  Quinine tablets along with an elixir derived from opium were highly recommended for fever and pain.

A children's concoction called California Syrup of Fig was sold by local pharmacies.  Made up almost entirely of fig syrup, it also contained 25 percent Senna, an herbal laxative, as well as 6 percent alcohol.

It's a miracle that residents survived the treatments!  But the point is, they did survive and despite large numbers of lives lost, Belvidere and Boone County (Illinois) eventually conquered the virus, not through horrific syrups, but through isolation, quarantine and protection.

By October 25, 1918, cases were down to three per day with very few deaths and Belvidere Mayor W.W. Ray petitioned the State Board of Health to have restrictions eased after weeks of closure and isolation.

So, it may seem like 2020 was the worst year ever, but we have come through bad times before.

--DaCoot

The Spanish Flu of 1918-- Part 7: Businesses Hit Particularly Hard

Like any communicable disease, case counts were higher in larger factories, institutions and residential facilities.

National Sewing Machine had hundreds out daily, with the highest number of sick employees at over 400 in one day.  Most plants had similar numbers with over half of their workers out sick.  The financial stress on businesses who had already suffered through fuel shortage closures earlier in the year was devastating.

Three Red Cross nurses were assigned to Belvidere to visit the sick in town regularly and driving services to transport the ill to and from medical services were provided free of charge.

With schools closed, local teachers were quickly trained in medical services and sent out to homes to supplement local care.

Sure Sounds a Whole Lot Like We Have Going On Right Now.    --Cooter

Spanish Flu Outbreak 1918-- Part 5: Struck at Camp Grant First in the Area

The first cases to hit the northern Illinois area were identified at Camp Grant  in Rockford.  Some newspapers speculated that Boone County actually had cases of Spanish flu as early as February 1918, but local doctors misdiagnosed then as secondary effects of the scarlet fever.

By October of 1918, though, the deadly virus was everywhere.  Due to the close proximity of soldier living quarters at Camp Grant in Rockford, hundreds were admitted every day to the military hospital there.  There was a record 768 hospitalizations in one day.

There were so many deaths that officers decided not to broadcast the total number to avoid a general public panic.  Military vehicles were used as ambulances for the camp and for Winnebago and surrounding counties, including Boone.

Here in Belvidere, schools, churches and theaters were closed before the sate banned attendance at any public gatherings effective October 18, 1918.  Once the state ban took effect, funerals, weddings, lodge meetings, government meetings/councils and hospital visits were not allowed.

The state also mandated masks for anyone in contact with the public outside of their own families.

--DaCoot

The Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918-- Part 2: Lots of Similarities 1918 and 2020

My grandparents lived through it, but my parents did not as Dad was born in 1928 and Mom in 1930.

Most cases of the virus made their appearance within three to four days.  Common symptoms included fever, cough, sneezing, headache, body ache and bloodshot eyes. However, many cases developed into bacterial pneumonia, meningitis and severe ear infection that struck suddenly and spread to the brain.

One day a person could feel perfectly fine and the next could be severely ill.  Many deaths were actually attributed to the secondary infections that could not be fought with weakened immune systems.  (Sounds a bit familiar.)

With limited antibiotics and no vaccines, United States hospitals and morgues filled up quickly and to overflowing.

--Cooter

Already Had the Spanish Flu and Survived By 1920? No Worry Mon

From the December 2, 2020, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1920. 100 Years Ago.

"If you had the real Spanish flu back in 1918 and 1919, and didn't die of it you won't have it again.

"You can start in the winter with a perfectly light heart and no worry whatsoever as how to treat yourself in the case of a fresh attack, now that the time-honored whiskey and  quinine cure is no longer integrally available."

Prohibition started in January 1920.

It is too bad that these days in 2020 that if you get the virus and survive you only get a temporary immunity from it.

No Whiskey for You.  --Cooter

How Americans Struggled to Bury the Dead in 1918 Flu Pandemic-- Part 5

Public funerals and wakes were banned  in cities including Philadelphia and Chicago.  Iowa prohibited public funerals and even the opening of caskets.   Exceptions were only made for  parents and wives identifying  soldiers before burial -- and even then, they could only open   the caskets if family members covered their mouths and noses with masks and refrained from touching the body.

"In many communities, processing  the loss of loved ones entails a series of rituals and rites and laying a person to rest in a respectful way,"  Bristow says.  "In many cities, the restrictions on public events meant that families  and communities had those rites interrupted, so grieving didn't take place in public but became an individual process, which had long-term consequences.  Without an opportunity to share it with those around them, that grief was carried for decades."

How Americans Struggled to Bury the Dead in 1918 Flu Pandemic-- Part 4: Like a Scene Out of the Middle Ages

Those buried in the mass graves were primarily poorer and immigrant residents so there was a class aspect to death and what happened to you.  The more affluent were more likely to secure the rites of passage into the hereafter than the poorer, more recent arrivals.

The scenes on the streets of Philadelphia appeared to be straight out of the plague-infested Middle Ages.  Throughout the day and night, horse-drawn carriages  kept a constant parade through the streets as priests joined the police   in collecting corpses draped in sackcloths and blood-stained  sheets that were left on porches and sidewalks.

The bodies were piled on top of each other in the wagons and limbs were protruding from underneath the sheets.  I couldn't help but think of that scene in the Monty Python movie.

The parents of one small boy who had succumbed to the flu begged the authorities to at least have him the dignity of being buried in a wooden box that had been used  to ship macaroni instead of wrapping him in a sheet and having him taken away in a patrol wagon.

How America Struggled to Bury the Dead in the 1918 Flu Pandemic-- Part 1

From the February 12, 2020, History site.

The terrifying, lethal influenza virus that swept across the world in 1918-1920,  history's deadliest pandemic, which claimed the lives of approximately 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 here in the United States.  Nearly 200,000 Americans died of it in October 1918 alone.

The sheer number of bodies overwhelmed undertakers, casket makers and grave diggers.  At the same time, a prohibition on public gatherings that included wakes and funerals compounded the grief of stricken families who could not properly mourn their deaths.

The mass mortality led to macabre scenes.  In Baltimore, the Red Cross nurses reported going to disease ravaged homes to discover sick people in bed next to the dead.  In other cases, corpses were covered with ice and left in bedroom corners where they festered for days.

Inundated  undertakers stacked coffins in funeral homes and even in their living quarters.  In New Haven, Connecticut,  six-year-old John Delano and his friends played outside a mortuary, scaling a mountain of caskets piled on a sidewalk, unaware of the contents inside them.  "We thought,  -- boy, this is great.  It's like climbing the pyramids."

--Cooter

See If You Can Guess the Date of These Headlines from the Seattle Daily Times

Help Bar Deadly Influenza from Seattle

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS CLOSED

Epidemic Puts Ban on All Public Assemblies

Seattle to Make Fight on the Disease

Police Ordered to Close Public Places

Guess the Date of These Headlines.

***********************************

Here's some more front page headlines to give you a clue:


Only One-Half of City's Quota for Loan Subscribed

Blast Shatters Dozens of Towns in New Jersey

New Wage Scale in Shipyards to Run from August 1

************************************

These might help even some more:

Americans and French Smash Foe

U.S. Troops Smash Huns in Argonne

************************************

The date of the newspaper is October 5, 1918.  The so-called Spanish Flu Pandemic was going on as well as World War I.  Today we have the COVID-19 Pandemic and Black Lives Matter.

--Cooter

And the Coronavirus Comes to McHenry County-- Part 6: We Get One Every 30-40 Years

A 2007 article for the National Institute of Health stated:  "Influenza pandemics have occurred regularly every 30 to 40 years since the 16th century.  Today, influenza experts consider the possibility of another influenza pandemic, not in terms of if but when."

Should we have seen the COVID-19, or its likeness, coming?  Unquestionably.

Kurt Begalka wrote in a column two years ago:  "Unlike 1918, when a flu pandemic swept across the globe, infecting a half billion people and leaving an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims in its wake, doctors know the microscopic killer is not a type of bacteria, and they know how to curtail its spread -- provided that experts divine the right preventive cocktail before next flu season.

Stay safe out there folks and do your best to use this new-found time productively.

It Was Predicted.  Now It's Here.  --Cooter

And, the Coronavirus Cometh to McHenry County in 2020-- Part 5: It's the Weather Channel Thing All Over Again

I myself was wondering whether or not we'd get hit with one of those pandemics of the past, but figured our medicine would be able to handle it now that we are in the 21st century.  I was wrong.  Perhaps, too much concentration on diabetes, cancer and the like.  But, as bad as those diseases are, something that hits and kills in the numbers of a virus is really scary.

Back to the article:

"So here we are, working from home and isolated -- for our own good-- from family and friends.  But rather than grouse about our lot, I'd save your recriminations for government officials who failed to stockpile adequate medical supplies and hospital beds for a time health experts long predicted could strike at a moment's notice."

Personally, I was operating under the Weather Channel Fix.  Anytime there is anything out on the oceans even remotely looking like a storm, they go overboard with dire warnings of possible catastrophe.  We've had Ebola and other possible pandemics pop up then go away along with dire warnings from health experts.  So, I just figured it was more of the same.

I heard about this new one in China, but was absolutely not concerned.

Reckon I Should Have Been.  --Cooter

The Spanish Flu Comes to McHenry County in 1918-- Part 4: That Coughing and Sneezing

A 1918 health bulletin also included instructions to the public which sound eerily to what we're getting today.

"It is now believed that influenza is always spread from person to person, the germs being carried with the air along with the very small droplets of mucus, expelled by coughing or sneezing, forceful talking, and the like by one who already has the germs of the disease.

"They also may be carried about in the air in the form of dust coming from dried mucus, from coughing or sneezing, or from careless people who spit on the floor or sidewalk.

"As in most other catching diseases, a person has only a mild attack of the disease himself  may give a very severe attack to others.  What should be done by those who catch the disease?   It is very important that every person who becomes sick with influenza should go home at once and go to bed.  This will keep away dangerous complications and will, at the same time, keep the patient from scattering the disease far and wide."

Like I Said, Deja Vu.  --Cooter

The Spanish Flu Comes to McHenry County in 1918-- Part 2: Avoid Those Coughs and Sneezes

To combat this growing threat, the U.S. Public Health Service issued a bulletin in September 1918 outlining precautionary steps and what to do if you or a loved one became infected.

"So far as a disease like influenza is concerned health authorities everywhere recognize the very close relation between its spread and overcrowded homes.  ...The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be overemphasized.

"Where crowding is unavoidable, as in street cars, care should be taken to keep the face turned as not to inhale directly the air breathed out by another person.  It is especially important to  be aware of the person who coughs are sneezes without covering his mouth or nose.

"It also follows that one should keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible, keep homes, offices, and workshops well aired, spend some time out of doors each day, walk to work if at all practicable -- in short make every possible effort to breathe  as much pure air as possible."

Sounds Somewhat Familiar, Doesn't It?  --Cooter

The Spanish Flu Comes to McHenry County, Illinois, in 1918-- Part 1: All That and WW I and TB Too

From the April 15, 2020, Northwest Herald "Learning from our pandemic past" by  Kurt Begalka.

"During these unprecedented times (Okay everyone, take a sip of the bubbly as every time we have a word put together with the "time" to describe these days, you get to take a drink) it is worth remembering that the world went through something just as deadly (much more deadly) in 1918 -- perhaps even more so considering the double whammy of World War I-related injuries and prevalence of tuberculosis.

"The September 26, 1918, edition of the Woodstock (Illinois) Sentinel noted: 'The Spanish influenza is said to be beginning a visit to this country.  Most things Spanish are not to be sneezed at, but the influenza is an exception."

Soon after, the newspapers were full of reports of illness and death in every corner of McHenry County -- alongside ads for "miraculous" cures such as  'Knock-A-Cold."

--Cooter

Pandemics in Chicago-- Part 3: Cholera and Fort Dearborn

Continued from April 21, 2020.  Before I got on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Butler County, Pennsylvania.  You can catch up on the first two posts by clicking on the label Chicago below this entry.

Adam Selzer is quite knowledgeable about Chicago's history and its epidemics and pandemics.  He leads guided tours of cemeteries including one of the bigger ones called Graceland.

One of the epidemics that plagues Chicago in the 1800s was that of cholera.  Multiple outbreaks took place in the city in the 19th century.  He says the first major epidemic took place in 1832 (Chicago became a city in 1837).

It was brought in on a ship by Gen. Winfield Scott who arrived in town by ship with soldiers from the Black Hawk War. Dozens died as they occupied the old Fort Dearborn and Scott later said that the disease scared him more than any enemy because there was no way to fight it; he couldn't fortify his walls against it or even offer terms of surrender.

Fort Dearborn was the site of the infamous Fort Dearborn Massacre in the War of 1812.

--Cooter

1918 Influenza Butler Co., Pa., --Part 7: Remembering the Victims

In 2002, the Saxonburg chapter of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) spearheaded a campaign, led by Doris Herceg and Drenda Gostcowski, to designate the mass grave of the influenza victims in Winfield Township as a historic site.

They succeeded and in a ceremony at the site, Father Velerian M. Muchlik and Janet Pazzynski of St. George's Ukranian Catholic Church in Pittsburgh performed  a Greek Catholic service, respective of the victims' Eastern European heritage.

A granite cross was erected at the site to replace the original wooden cross, and a historic roadside marker was placed adjacent to the site.

--Cooter

1918 Influenza in Butler Co., Pa.,-- Part 6: A "Forgotten Epidemic?"

The epidemic faded from public memory almost as quickly as the disease itself vanished.  The deaths of servicemen in the Great War received far more attention than the deaths caused by the influenza.

Furthermore, on November 11, 1918, the Great War, known now as World War I in the U.S. and the First World War in Britain (hey they wouldn't have known about the second one back then) which overshadowed the influenza outbreak in western Pennsylvania (well, it was also in Chicago and in much of the rest of the United States in October that year).

This was kind of like the Civil War's Sultana Disaster which took place April 27, 1865, when the steamboat Sultana blew up while carrying several thousand recently released Union prisoners.  It is regarded as the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history with at least 1,168 deaths. But it was soon forgotten what with the end of the Civil War, Lincoln Assassination and the killing of John Wilkes Booth all occurring around the same time.

The Influenza epidemic of 1918 became "The Forgotten Epidemic" until various other outbreaks in more recent history brought back the memories.

I'm not so sure it was all that forgotten, but definitely this new coronavirus we're involved with these days has brought back the memory.  I was completely unaware of how hard western Pennsylvania was hit, though, until I came across the information about the immigrant cemetery in Butler County which started this thread.

And, there is still one more entry to go.

--Cooter

1918 Influenza in Butler Co. Pa.-- Part 5: It lasted a Month and Abated, But A Quarter of Population Got It and Hundreds Died

Elsewhere in the county in October,the epidemic continued to sicken people.but the number of new cases began to decline sharply.  By the beginning of November, the total number of cases reported in Butler County since the beginning of the epidemic  began exceeded 7,000.  However, the number of cases statewide  had fallen so dramatically  that the department of Health lifted the month-long ban on public gatherings.

The crisis, it seems, had abated  The influenza outbreak in Butler County lasted only a month, but nearly a quarter of the population contracted the disease and several hundred died.

--Cooter