Every year there are more and more frightening news about new types of influenza. People buy huge amounts of a wide variety of medicines, make vaccinations and scold doctors who can not come up with reliable means of protection against this disease. But in fact, the largest pandemic of this terrible disease was recorded in the distant 1918. Then the so-called "Spaniard" - the flu, first registered in Spain, took millions of lives around the world. The precise location of this virus is not definitely established, therefore many experts believe that the source of the "Spanish" flu could be virtually any country in the world.
The number of victims of this disease can not be accurately established, since the First World War was still at this time and other diseases and hunger raged on the expanses of Europe. According to some sources, during 25 weeks the flu "Spaniard" killed about 25 million people. The greatest spread of this disease was facilitated by the active movement of troops of various states spreading the epidemic over vast territories. Compared with the number of victims of a bird or swine virus, "Spaniard" is a flu-record holder that killed tens of millions of people in just a few months. Of course, many factors contributed to this: hunger, unsanitary conditions, poor medical care, lack of antiviral drugs. That is why "Spaniard" is the flu that has terrified many people for more than two years. At the same time, not only the poorest layers of society were exposed to the danger of infection, but also quite successful and rich people. "Spaniard" is the flu, which equalized all in terms of the risk of the disease.
Until now, it has not been established exactly how many human lives this virus actually took. Some historians believe that more than 1% of the population of the whole Earth (about 100 million people) died from it. This number of victims is comparable only to the terrible epidemics of plague and smallpox. According to available versions of the origin of this virus, "Spaniard" is the flu that got to Europe from the US, although some scientists claim that it came from Asia, or rather, from China. The first outbreak of this disease was noted in 1918. At this time, the influenza pandemic captured 20 countries, gradually spreading to North Africa and India. At the end of this year, it swept the entire planet, except Australia and Madagascar. The third wave of the epidemic has taken virtually all countries of the world. The pandemic lasted until the end of 1920.
"Spaniard" - the flu with an unusual pattern of the disease. He quickly passed into a complicated form, affecting the cardiovascular system and causing severe pneumonia, accompanied by a strong and painful hemoptysis. Since there were no antiviral drugs in those days, the cure for this disease was almost impossible. Only people with strong immunity had a chance to survive in this pandemic. Only the natural attenuation of the epidemic stopped the mass death of people. Taught by bitter experience, people are constantly trying to create new vaccines against the flu virus. This work can never be completed, because this causative agent of the disease is constantly mutating and mutating. Vaccination against influenza can reduce the risk of disease by some types of viruses (from which this vaccine is created), but does not guarantee the inability to become infected with any of their other varieties.