Current Events > New study shows that 1918 flu pandemic did not mostly kill young, healthy adults

(+) Yeah! (+)

But rather, killed frail adults. Pre-existing conditions were more common back then because of a lack of vaccines.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/health/1918-flu-skeletons.html

I didnt read it but Im wondering how such a study would be done.

Sariana21 posted...

I didnt read it but Im wondering how such a study would be done.

1910 census + immigration demographics vs 1920 census

But apparently this study looked at the bones of the deceased.

Sariana21 posted...

I didnt read it but Im wondering how such a study would be done.

They examined skeletons of people who died from the flu for skeletal lesions, indicative of preexisting lingering health conditions such as tuberculosis, cancer, or nutritional issues and compared them to skeletons of people who died from something other than the flu.

Serious_Cat posted...

They examined skeletons of people who died from the flu for skeletal lesions, indicative of preexisting lingering health conditions such as tuberculosis, cancer, or nutritional issues and compared them to skeletons of people who died from something other than the flu.

So it's like COVID where the vast majority of the deaths are from people with pre-existing health issues?

This is fascinating because it's contrary to everything I've read over the years about the Spanish Flu.
It isn't too surprising though because there was so much turmoil in the world at the time and basic sanitation as well as health care was nothing like now.

Any links for me to read up on this?

candyapplered posted...

Any links for me to read up on this?

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0705460105 is linked to in the article. It's about similar research done with bubonic plague victims.

candyapplered posted...

This is fascinating because it's contrary to everything I've read over the years about the Spanish Flu.

The article says there's a theory that it affected younger people with those issues more because older people with the same underlying issues may have had exposure to a similar flu virus in the past, giving them a measure of immunity. It seems they may have not necessarily been sickly at the time, just otherwise recovered but more susceptible.