Rows of infected people assembled into warehouses suffering from 1918 Influenza Pandemic. A total of 50-100 million people were killed, ca.1918.
The 1918 flu was unusual in that it heavily affected the young and the healthy. “Normal” influenza mostly kills the weak/elderly. This flu, however, induced what is known as a cytokine storm in those who were strong and healthy— basically your immune system would freak out and go into a positive feedback loop and drown you with fluid and white blood cells in the lungs.
More people died worldwide from the flu than from combat operations in all of World War One, including civilian casualties.
February 10, 2014 at 3:41 pm