Not to worry and go to bed....stay Indoors

The Spanish Flu (1918-20): The deadliest pandemic of 20^th century that ravaged through India a century ago

“Not to worry and go to bed” was the advice given by Times of India in its  July 1918 paper exhorting people in Bombay to stay indoors as the city was hit by a deadly flu which went on to become the deadliest pandemic of the twentieth century reportedly killing nearly five crore people worldwide of which over a crore were Indians .

Just as the world was just coming to terms after the end of World War I, the pandemic, which came to be known as The Spanish Flu, affected a third of world’s population and killed more people than the WWI did. It is estimated that nearly two crore people were killed during the WWI, half of them being civilians. The Flu infected 28 per cent of all Americans, killing nearly 6.75 lac, 10 times as many as in the WWI. Off the US soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy.

Spanish Flu, the influenza pandemic which was caused by an HINI virus with genes of avian origin, entered India through a ship of returning soldiers from WWI that docked in Bombay in June 1918, ravaged India. It swept through the city affecting almost each and every household leading to closing down of offices and factories.

From Maharashtra, the pandemic spread to Gujarat where it swept through the ashram where Mahatma Gandhi lived, infecting the Mahatma and his associates who were fortunate to recover after a long period of illness. Any other outcome would have been disastrous for the country’s freedom struggle. A second wave of the epidemic began in September 1918 in southern India and spread along the coastline.

The disease initially spread during WWI by exploiting the crowded conditions in an era when trench warfare was the norm. The infections were noticed across military camps but countries in the middle of WWI namely Britain, Germany, France and the US kept it a secret in the beginning in an attempt to keep the morale of the forces high. Spain, which was not a party in the war, reported the outbreak of the disease accurately, thus giving it the name The Spanish Flu.

Since there were no vaccines to protect against influenza infections and no antibiotics to treat secondary infections, control efforts were limited to isolation, quarantine, personal hygiene and limiting public gatherings, all having such a striking similarity to the times that we are presently living through.

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The Black Death ( 1346-51): 

What’s it between China, Italy & Pandemics 

Nearly 700 years ago the world had witnessed one of the most devastating pandemics in human history which quite eerily had its origin in Central Asia/China and made its way to Europe through Italy before spreading to Spain, France and finally Birtain. 

The Black Death or the Great Bubonic Plague or the Black Plague, as it was known to be, resulted  in the death of estimated 75 to 150 milion people in Eurasia during 1346-51.

From Asia, it was carried east and west along the Silk Road by the Mongol armies and traders. It was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that traveled on Genoese merchant ships bringing the plague by ship into Sicily in Italy and the south of Europe from where it spread to the rest of Europe. 

The plague is believed to have wiped out nearly half of the population of the city of Florence in Italy. It is also estimated that in the span of four-five years, the plague wiped out nearly 50 million people in Europe bringing down the population of Europe from 80 million to 30 million. 

The bacterium Yersinia Pestis, which results in several forms of plague (septicemic, pneumonic and, the most common, bubonic), is believed to have been the cause of the Black Death plague. Yersinia Pestis is commonly present in populations of ground rodents in Central Asia. 

The plague shattered governments, undermined the authority of the Catholic church and stoked inflation in Europe. 

An unintended consequence was the launch of  European era of exploration and colonisation as now the Europeans started taking to sea voyages. Earlier, Europeans had shunned long sea voyages because of high mortality rate. But now that mortality rates on land were also so high, they took the risk of embarking on sea voyages and the rest is, as they say, history.

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Bharat Ratna for Sportspersons

While there is no arguing the fact Sachin Tendulkar and Dhyan Chand are the most outstanding sports persons that  our country has ever produced and are one of the most deserving claimants for Bharat Ratna, we cannot forget the outstanding achievement of World Champion Vishwanathan Anand in the field of Chess, who broke into the traditional bastion of the Russians in the game. Only for the fact that this sport does not get adequate media attention, which is primarily driven by commercial interests, Anand's achievement is in no way less than  the above mentioned sports legends.