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It is unclear exactly how and when the Spanish flu outbreak began. But at some point, the new H1N1 virus was transmitted from birds to humans. The process, since the virus took hold and spread between people, was at a dizzying pace and could infect a city in a few weeks.
– The first wave in the spring of 1918 was quite gentle. But then the soldiers’ trips home began, causing extreme spread and then he came back as a “killer,” says Björn Olsen, professor of infectious diseases at Uppsala University and author of the book “Pandemic: the myths, the facts, threats “.
Björn Olsen has also outlined himself in the debate on the corona pandemic and was critical of the Swedish strategy in which he wanted to see more and tougher restrictions to prevent the spread of the infection.
An influenza epidemic occurs when one The new virus has evolved through mutations in the genome of a virus. Humans lack protection against the rapidly spreading new infectious agent.
Björn Olsen, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Uppsala University and author of the book “Pandemic: Myths, Facts, Threats”.
Photo: Fredrik Funck
The United States has been singled out as the source of the Spanish flu; that American soldiers brought the virus to Europe during World War I. Another theory is that Chinese workers who helped dig trenches for the Allies may have brought the infection with them. When the fighters returned home at the end of the war, they took with them the virus that quickly took over Europe and the rest of the world.
– The Spanish flu occurred when people moved around the world and took the virus with it as it mutated in September 1918. When it struck three continents, it had fatal consequences, says Björn Olsen.
The pandemic devastated the worst from the spring of 1918 to the summer of 1920. An estimated 500 million people were infected, representing about one-third of all people on earth, and between 50 and 100 million people died. In Sweden alone, 38,000 people died.
Björn Olsen compares the spread of infection to a wave in four phases.
– Many died and became seriously ill at the beginning of the pandemic. Then the spread of the infection slowed down during the fall and winter. The third wave became milder and by the fourth wave the virus had moved to isolated areas that had not been affected before.
In previously isolated populations, the flu struck with devastating force, for example Arjeplog in the interior of Norrland. Visitors to the city’s crowded winter market in 1920 brought the virus to the sparsely populated area and infected people on farms.
– Once it struck, it had violent consequences, in some communities in Alaska and Greenland, the death rate was one hundred percent, says Björn Olsen.
Unlike the corona pandemic, the Spanish flu mainly affected people between the ages of 20 and 40.
Photo: TT
The measures to slow the spread of the Spanish flu a hundred years ago are similar to those of the current corona pandemic. People were urged to avoid crowds and the number of passengers on trains and trams was limited. Schools and public settings such as cinemas, billiard rooms and theaters were closed. People also started wearing mouth guards in some places.
Unlike the corona pandemic, the Spanish flu mainly affected young people between the ages of 20 and 40. Older people, on the other hand, did better. According to Björn Olsen, the explanation is the Russian flu that raged in the late 19th century. The elderly who had been involved in the Russian cold had basic protection against the Spanish flu, which the young lacked.
Covid VAT Department in Östra Sjukhuset.
Photograph: Björn Larsson Rosvall / TT
Although there are several similarities Between the current corona pandemic and the Spanish flu outbreak a hundred years ago, there are two completely different influenza viruses.
– The coronavirus is something completely different with a family of its own. It is as closely related to the flu virus as we are to moose. Not all flu viruses can be grouped together, says Björn Olsen.
The fact that the Spanish flu remitted in 1920 follows a common development for the flu virus: the longer a flu virus is in a given group, the less lethal the disease becomes. The virus is more virulent, or more easily transmitted, when it first breaks in and then generally weakens.
At the same time, the Spanish flu virus has remained off the radar and has been the prototype for the other pandemics that have hit the world, such as the Asian and Hong Kong flu. Björn Olsen explains that it has become a virus because it has hung on new viruses, which has changed its character. Like the chassis of a car that has new content.
– When the virus appeared in history, it received new genes. Our immune system did not recognize it then, but perceived it as strange. It will be a new virus, although from the beginning it is a virus of the Spanish disease that has mutated.
Can sars-cov2 coronavirus also get “kinder” over time and still linger?
– Yes, but it can take a long time. The Spanish lasted two and a half years before calming down. This will take time, there are no quick fixes when it comes to a pandemic, says Björn Olsen.
The sars-cov-2 coronavirus does not follow given patterns, which, according to Björn Olsen, has made it difficult to predict. It does not appear to spread widely in the population like the Spanish flu and provides herd immunity. Instead, it spreads in chains and clumps, and in some cases those who have been ill seem to lose their antibodies. Therefore, it is not enough to think about the immunity of flocks to suppress the advance of the new coronavirus, says Björn Olsen.
– With a vaccine, you can boost immunity and several countries are now pushing the plate to the bottom and will mass vaccinate their population. The more people become immune, the less they get sick.
Mass vaccination against covid-19 can stop the corona pandemic.
Photo: Frank Hoemann / SVEN SIMON
Can the 1918 flu outbreak say anything about how our current pandemic can end?
– What we have today that they did not have then is the opportunity to buy vaccines to defeat this pandemic. It is the progress of modern times; that we have a vaccine and we have been able to create it in a short time and with an extremely high protection value, around 90 percent. So with vaccines we can increase immunity.
When we can return to a normal situation depends on several factors, including the rate of mass vaccination, according to Björn Olsen. The summer of 2021 may be the tipping point when the corona pandemic begins to loosen its grip in Sweden, and next Christmas we can hopefully celebrate with our loved ones again, he believes.
– On Christmas Eve this year we can wash up. But next year it will probably be more normal. Then we will have the cornona floating below the surface. The virus will survive but will not survive with the same rage. All pandemic presentations are difficult and lengthy, but somehow we’ve experienced a change in the world by creating vaccines so incredibly fast and that needs to be taken into account, says Björn Olsen.
Read more:
During the Spanish flu, the children were sent to school, saved them
A hundred years ago, the deadliest flu struck
Dagmar, 103, survived the Spanish flu: we think we can handle the crown
