I had a little birdie,Its name was Enza,I opened the window,And in-flu-enza.(1918 jump-rope jingle)World War I was brutal. Soldiers faced mustard gas and shell shock as they lived side-by-side with rats in the trenches of France, Belgium and Germany. But the ravages of war paled compared to the scourge that swept across America and the world at the end of the war. An estimated 50 million people, including 650,000 Americans, died during the influenza pandemic of 1918.According to the Stanford University Web site, when the pandemic first began in September 1918, American scientists claimed the virus was caused by the Germans and the unsanitary conditions soldiers encountered during the war. They nicknamed the disease the Spanish flu because the highest mortality rates were first reported in Spain, but the virus may have actually started in this country.In March 1918, more than 500 soldiers at Fort Riley, a Kansas military base, reported symptoms that included sore throat, headache and fever. Many died, but the epidemic received little publicity because the war dominated the news coverage, and the first wave of the flu abated as quickly as it appeared.However, when a resurgence of the virus hit major American cities in the fall of 1918, it was impossible to ignore. Hospitals and medical providers were overwhelmed, and in Philadelphia, New York and Boston, mass graves were necessary because of the lack of coffins and grave diggers.Ironically, the children’s jump-rope ditty nailed the origin of the pandemic. An Oct. 5, 2005, report in the Journal of Science said researchers were able to reconstruct the 1918 virus by removing tissue from a flu victim whose body was preserved in the Alaskan permafrost. Their findings prove the Spanish influenza was a genetic mutation of the same H5N1 avian virus that is sweeping throughout Asia and Europe today.Their research began a global race to create enough vaccine in case another worldwide pandemic occurs. And the Center for Disease Control is urging all local governments, businesses and families to be prepared in the event of another epidemic like the one experienced in 1918.”The community needs to get motivated and take some action in order to prepare for a pandemic or any natural disaster,” said Susan Wheelan, public health information officer for the El Paso County Health Department. A “Pandemic Flu Preparedness” meeting geared toward individual and family readiness will be held April 3 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the El Paso County Regional Development Center at 2880 International Circle in Colorado Springs.Wheelan urges everyone to attend. The meeting, which is free to the public, will feature a brief history of the 1918 flu epidemic in Colorado, how people can prepare in case of a plague and what steps they can take to avoid infection. A bag with a list of supplies families should have on hand, plus other items including first aid kits and mini flashlights will be distributed by the health department.But most important, Wheelan wants El Paso County residents to come away from the meeting “educated and prepared in case a disaster should occur.”For more information of the 1918 flu pandemic, visitStanford University: www.virus.stanford.eduThe Center for Disease Control: www.pandemicflu.gov
