Talk:Spanish flu

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Spanish flu has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good
articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it
further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can  reassess it.
Article milestones

Date Process

April 15, 2006 Good article nominee

May 14, 2009 Good article reassessment

Current status: Good article

 Spanish flu has been listed as a level-4  vital article in History. If you
can improve it, please do. This article has been rated as GA-Class.
‹ The template below (Old move) is being considered for merging. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus. ›

On March 15, 2020, it was proposed that this article

be moved from Spanish flu to 1918 influenza pandemic. The result of the
proposal was not moved. (See discussion.)

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

 McIver DJ, Brownstein JS (2014). "Wikipedia Usage Estimates

Prevalence of Influenza-Like Illness in the United States in Near
Real-Time". PLOS Computational Biology. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

 赵觉珵 (2020-03-19). "1918 年大流感也要"甩锅"给中国？调查发现

维基词条被恶意篡改". Global Times. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
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 The Untreatable - Gavin Francis "In Madrid, it was known as the

Naples Soldier after a catchy tune then in circulation, while French
military doctors called it Disease 11. In Senegal it was Brazilian flu;
in Brazil it was German flu. Poles called it the Bolshevik Disease
and the Persians thought the British were responsible"
 The Origin Of The Name ‘Spanish Flu’ "Arnold says the
Spaniards themselves had different names for the virus—
sometimes “the French flu” for their historic rival, sometimes
“Naples Soldier” after a popular musical—but it was the name in the
Times that would stick."

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 Lauraspinney (talk · contribs) This user has declared a

connection. (author of "Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It
Changed the World".)

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported

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Contents

 1Secondary bacterial infection not bacterial super infection

 2Timeline
 3Better date information
 4Name of the article
 5Aspirin Poisoning heading should be renamed
 6Proposal: Timeline reorganize
 7Semi-protected edit request on 5 June 2020
 8Semi-protected edit request on 9 June 2020
 9When did this strain of flu leave the world?
 10Philadelphia Liberty Loans Parade
 11"Contemporarily"
 12Semi-protected edit request on 21 July 2020
 13First wave
 14NOT 17 million but 50 million deaths
 15Rename Spanish Flu back to 1918-1920 H1N1 Flu to prevent racism for the sake of
Spanish speaking people and Hispanics
 16Unsourced - pathogenic viruses become less lethal with time
 17Is Spanish flu virus no more aggressive than ordinary flu?
 18Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
 19Do we...

Secondary bacterial infection not bacterial super

infection[edit]
Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, with a higher
survival rate for those in between, but the Spanish flu pandemic resulted in a higher than
expected mortality rate for young adults.[4] Scientists offer several possible explanations for the
high mortality rate of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Some analyses have shown the virus to be
particularly deadly because it triggers a cytokine storm, which ravages the stronger immune
system of young adults.[5] In contrast, a 2007 analysis of medical journals from the period of the
pandemic found that the viral infection was no more aggressive than previous influenza strains.
[6][7] Instead, malnourishment, overcrowded medical camps and hospitals, and poor hygiene
promoted secondary bacterial infection. These infections killed most of the victims, typically after
a somewhat prolonged death bed.[8][9] — Preceding unsigned comment added
by Pbvet007 (talk • contribs)
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Do you have a proposal on how to improve
the article? El_C 00:12, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
I think the idea is to attribute Spanish Flu's deadliness to the post-WWI healthcare's
troubles rather than "deadliness per se". Also, IIRC, "super infection" refers to bacterial
infection with resistantce to drugs than high no antibiotic would cure it
instead. Uchyotka (talk) 07:24, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

Timeline[edit]
Beginning of the articles states, "Lasting from spring 1918 through spring or early summer
1919" Then in the Etymology section it states: "Nearly a century after the Spanish flu struck
in 1918–1920" Obviously both of these statements cannot be true. My independent
research has suggest the flu lasted for 4 years into 1921. Either way something needs to
change. SChalice (talk) 20:38, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
One important point that came up earlier is this article lacks a clear chronology. I've been
trying to add information from 1919 and 1920 which was previously missing. If you have
good sources from 1921 can you add them? My hope is that we can create subsections
related to the various phases of the pandemic that I can later reorganize under a History
> Timeline subsection. DallasFletcher (talk) 04:26, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
I was also a bit worried by this inconsistency. The fourth wave in 1920 was considered to
be very small, but there were still some deaths in 1920.--♦IANMACM♦  (talk to me) 07:04, 11
May 2020 (UTC)
Our article currently claims that the fourth wave was "very minor" and "mortality rates
were very low", but neither of these is supported by a citation. On the contrary,
the Influenza journal citation (Yang et al) tabulates its NYC mortality as nearly 70% of
the third wave, and much larger than the first wave. Our summaries of the 1920 wave
need to be more consistent with the published sources. —72.68.82.120 (talk) 07:22, 11
May 2020 (UTC)
This source says "Because of the lack of comprehensive medical records from 1918-20,
there is not enough evidence to conclude an accurate number of deaths in any of the
waves of the pandemic." Nevertheless, some people were still dying from it in 1920. For
the same reason, it is hard to give an exact point in time for the end of the pandemic,
although 1918-20 is the agreed timeline for many sources. This is why saying 1918-19 in
the article leads to an inconsistency.--♦IANMACM♦  (talk to me) 08:42, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
Yes agree the fourth wave needs a citation. A big challenge here is that the flu was
heavily underreported by this point and there's a shortage of good information.
Nonetheless I am digging up a few, including this CDC gem about mortality rates in
1920[1]. I'm planning to quantify this claim, sort out inconsistencies and add refs in the
next few days. DallasFletcher (talk) 01:08, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
References

1. ^ "Mortality Statistics 1920: Twenty-First Annual Report"  (PDF). Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention. 1922. p.  29-31.