History+Spanish+Flu

​Spanish Influenza (Amanda Perkins)
 ====The Spanish Influenza of 1918 is the most serious influenza pandemic in history. The Spanish Influenza belonged to the H1N1 subtype of influenza viruses. Its genes were found in avian forms of the disease (Cunningham 50).The first wave of the Spanish Influenza arrived in around March of 1918 at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas. Camp Funston was an army training camp. Most military bases were overcrowded with patience’s (Cunningham 38). Patience overflowed the hospitals and spilled out into the streets. Emergency care was established in parks and playgrounds (Orr 16). Tens of thousands of people died in every major city around the world (Orr 16). In Boston alone, were more than 200 deaths a day. In New York, 851 people died in one day; 700 times the usual death rate (Orr 14). Estimates of the number of deaths worldwide range widely, between 20 million and 100 million (Orr 17). Most cases were turning into pneumonia (Cunningham 41). Influenza and related pneumonia killed roughly the same number of solders in the American Expeditionary Force (Cunningham 49). When statistics were tallied, more American solders (57,000) were killed by the flu than in the world war (53,500) that was coming to an end (Orr 17). The reason why many people died from it was that it was a type of virus that humans had never encountered before, so they had absolutely no immunity to it (Orr 18). In //Picture Bride//, Hana lives through the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Hana moves to Oakland, California from Oka Village to become Taro’s husband. In the first year of living in America, Hana encounters the Spanish Influenza. During the pandemic, Hana loses a close friend, Yamaka, and her first child to the Spanish influenza. ====