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1918 Pandemic
Influenza and Roseau County Part 1
The
Roseau County Museum will be open during January, February, and March,
Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. We will be closed Saturdays,
Sundays, the Martin Luther King holiday and President’s Day.
What type of a disease could cause a perfectly healthy young person in
their twenties to become so ill that within hours they were totally
incapacitated? The Influenza of 1918. It is estimated that
between twenty and forty million people died of this flu in1918 and
1919. Thirty-seven deaths were recorded in Roseau County,
What
was it like to have this flu and where did it begin? The 1918
influenza symptoms included all common cold-like symptoms, coughing,
sneezing, high fever, sore throat, and a general overall soreness. (RT-R
10/11/1918) For many in just a few hours they would be struggling to
breathe as pneumonia had set in. There was no cure for pneumonia at
that time and for some death soon followed.
There
is a controversy about where it first started. One of the earliest
recordings of this flu was possibly in March 1918 at Camp Funston, a
temporary soldier headquarters located in Fort Riley, near Manhattan
Kansas. Camp Funston was the training ground to over 60,000 soldiers
at the time. Forty six soldiers died of the flu that spring. In 1998
Gaylynn S. Childs, director of the Geary County Historical Society
Museum at Junction City, Kansas told a Manhattan Mercury newspaper
staff reporter, “Around the time the flu itself was dying out, the
89th Division--and the influenza--were deployed to France during World
War 1.” (1998,
The Manhattan Mercury)
Unfortunately the spring flu attack
did not receive the attention it deserved and in the fall of 1918 made
a come back. (PBS, 1999)
The
flu had a devastating effect on Europe, spreading from country to
country as the military advanced. In May of 1918 there were large
numbers of deaths due to the flu in Spain. This is where the name, the
Spanish Flu, derived. It prompted some to believe it was caused by
biological warfare. Perhaps the Spanish Flu originated in Kansas, as
has been suggested by some or it was a European flu. Regardless of
where it started the virus spread and the death rate climbed. (PBS,
1999)
Next
week we will look at how this flu affected soldiers from Roseau
County.
RCHS Footnotes
The museum is looking for
volunteers to assist with various projects. Some of these projects
can be done at home. If you are interested in assisting with a museum
project please call volunteer coordinator Yvonne Johnson, phone number
463-2655 or the museum at 463-1918 for more information.
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