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LESSONS FROM THE GREAT INFLUENZA


Many of us have had cause to reflect on the aphorism: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana). Whilst progress in our lives often feels new, fresh and different, there are seeds from the past in much of what surrounds us.


I suspect I am not alone in reacting to current events shaping our lives by looking back at history for what lessons might be learnt. As the current coronavirus pandemic started to sweep Westwards, the 1918-1920 ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic obviously springs to mind, leading me to John M Barry’s fascinating book “The Great Influenza” (2009/2018). Were the lessons learned from that pandemic useful in directing our response to Coronavirus today?


It is amazing how much we think we know about certain events, only to find that our sketchy background knowledge misses much of the detail and nuances of often complex chapters in history. The book is not only very informative as a history of that influenza outbreak and crisis, but also as a story about the fight to find a vaccine, the World War I backdrop and how it allowed the virus to take hold, through to the mechanics of the influenza virus and how it can thrive. I was not aware that the ‘Spanish Flu’ is thought to have started in sparsely populated Haskell County in Kansas, before taking hold in the network of US Army training camps, and then exported to Europe during the latter stages of WWI. Why then “Spanish Flu”? Wartime censorship of the media in the USA, UK, and Germany kept statistics for the virus and its impact away from the public eye, and opponents’ gaze. It was only in Spain where the figures were reported properly, and so the name took hold.


However, while the book is an excellent history of the 1918- 20 pandemic, it also adds a modern update to the tale. Originally completed in 2004, the conclusion noted the 1997 outbreak of HN51 avian flu (Bird Flu) and its re-appearance in 2003. In fact, the further evolution of other strains of coronavirus and the author’s interest in them make the ‘Afterword’ section even more interesting. Barry has served on the US federal government’s Infectious Disease Board of Experts, and on the advisory committee at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for its Centre for Refugee and Disaster Response. I found that he took the politics out of the discussions and had great insight into modern day preparedness for another ‘big’ pandemic. Barry notes that post ‘9/11’ the Western World was well prepared for a variety of disasters, including pandemics. Sadly by 2009 (after the GFC) this had already started to slip and, by 2018 the plans were underfunded and seriously flawed.


WARTIME CENSORSHIP OF THE MEDIA IN THE USA, UK, AND GERMANY KEPT STATISTICS FOR THE VIRUS AND ITS IMPACT AWAY FROM THE PUBLIC EYE, AND OPPONENTS’ GAZE.


30 | ADMISI - The Ghost In The Machine | Q2 Edition


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