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Abnormal bad weather could have greatly increased the death toll from both WWI (PPK) and the Spanish flu pandemic. This is demonstrated by a new study, whose authors claim that differences in rainfall and temperatures have caused a significant increase in deaths.
After analyzing the 72-meter Alpine ice core, scientists from Harvard University, the Institute for Climate Change at the University of Main and the University of Nottingham have been able to carefully study the climatic conditions that prevailed in Europe between 1914 and 1919. His study is noteworthy because, for the first time, the findings were related to the war and the “Spanish flu.”
According to the scientists, the unusually wet and cold conditions on the battlefields caused more damage, and the change in migration of the birds brought them unusually closer to humans, which is not possible under normal conditions.
“Due to the change in the meteorological circulation, it has been raining much more in Europe for 6 years and it has been colder. Such an anomaly occurs once a century,” says climatologist Alexander More of Harvard University. At the same time, no considers that the climatic anomaly is the cause of the pandemic, but the deterioration of the climate, in his opinion, was undoubtedly an “enhancing factor”, that straw that broke the camel’s back.
Of course, the terrible weather in PPK is well known and well documented. However, a new study links these conditions to a relatively rare climatic feature. Traces of sea salt in the ice cave informed scientists about the extremely unusual climate change of the Atlantic Ocean and the associated frequent rains in winter (1915, 1916 and 1918), a circumstance that coincided with the mortality peaks in the European fronts.
Photo from the US National Library / Wikipedia org./ “Spanish Influenza” appeared in Lithuania as early as 1918. in the summer. A patient with a new flu in Washington, DC, USA, in 1918.
It is not possible to count the exact number of soldiers killed in the PPK, but there were about 10 million of them. Among the causes of death are not only enemy bullets, but also health problems: the so-called trench foot (trench), frostbite of the limbs, aggravated by constant cold and humidity, as well as pneumonia and other diseases.
“We found a link between cooler and more humid climatic conditions and an increase in mortality, which occurred mainly from mid-1917 until the first wave of ‘Spanish’ flu,” says archaeologist Christopher Loveluck of the University of Nottingham.
Bad weather also damaged poor fighting conditions. Previous studies have shown that the mutation in the virus may have been caused by the chlorine used on the battlefield. However, for the first time, the Alpine ice core provided evidence that weather anomalies played a key role in the spread of ideal conditions for H1N1, causing a second, more life-threatening wave of “Spanish” flu after the war (fall 1918).
The research also notes that due to bad weather, mallards (the main carriers of the H1N1 virus) had to stay in Western Europe and not fly to Russia as before. In such conditions, they “approached” both the military and the civilian population, who did not live in the most hygienic conditions.
Photo by Vida Press / Spanish Flu in the US
The researchers hypothesized that the higher humidity would spread the virus more quickly with bird droppings. A more virulent strain of the virus may have emerged under these conditions, killing 2.6 million people in Europe. Given the current pandemic and climate anomalies, these lessons should not be forgotten, scientists say.
“The idea that prolonged rains could have accelerated the spread of the virus is quite interesting,” said Professor Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program at Boston College. – One of the things we learned during this pandemic is that viruses are more viable in a humid atmosphere than in a dry one. So the assumption that the virus was spreading faster in Europe at the time is logical. I think this study is very reliable and thought-provoking, it gives us a fresh look at the connection between infectious diseases and the environment. “
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