Friday, August 6, 1976

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Five

1918: The year swine flu struck

By The Associated Press
Hardly a city, town, village or
hamlet was spared when a dead-
ly influenza swept across the
nation nearly 60 years ago, shat-
tering millions of lives.
It was the pandemic, or world-
wide epidemic, of 1918-19. More
than 2 million people died, 500,-
000 in the United States alone.
THE VIRULENT disease -
swine flu-wiped out lives with-
out regard to social standing or
physical strength, age sex or
race. The flu showed its power
to King George V of Great
Britain, to Gen. John Pershing,
both of whom survived the dis-
ease, and to millions of little-

known persons, many of whom
were not so lucky.
Nobody was prepared for such
a massive illness when it first
appearede in the summer of
1918. There were, of course, ap-
propriations from Congress and
help from the Red Cross, but
the nation had its mind on some-
thing else as the outbreak de-
veloped: the end of the Great
War.
The nation's eyes were on the
safe return of its heroes from
such war-torn places as Belleau
Wood and St. Wihiel. World War
I was ending; peace at hand.
BUT THE joy was shortlived.

"When the armistice came,
we were too busy with the sick
to know about it," recalled 80-
year-old Helena Seaberg, who
was an Army nurse in Rockford,
Ill., in 1918. "I have never for-
gotten this experience. No one
who ever lived through it ever
forgot."
In much of the nation, doctors
were scarce or overworked.
There were reports that some
doctors went into hiding to avoid
contact with flu victims. Rela-
tives caring for the sick resorted
to unusual and often useless
home remedies.
"DOCTORS were only 50 cents

at the time," Adele Norstein, 89,
of Brooklyn, N.Y., said. "But
50 cents was so much money
then, and we were poor."
Horsedrawn carts bounced
along street picking up the
dead in a scene reminiscent
of Europe's Black Death in the
14th century. Businesses closed,
as did theaters and restaurants.
Many parents kept their children
home from school. Letter car-
riers wore face masks. People
changed clothes when they
visited sickrooms.
Spitting on a street could bring
a fine in some areas. And eating
and drinking utensils were boil-

ed in many homes following the
visit of a friend or relative who
had been exposed to the flu.
"They were dropping like
flies, and the bodies piled up at
the cemeteries awaiting burial,"
said Louise Quick, 64.
Ella Sorrell, 85, who now lives
in a New York City nursing
home, said the bodies of her
brother and sister-in-law were
rushed to the cemetery for a
hasty funeral. But Madelyn Ed-
ward, 67, of New York, said it
took 4 days before her 18-
month-old brother was buried.
By spring of 1919 the flu be-
gan to recede. It was over.

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