Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008

The Flu Pandemic of 1918
Incredible Disasters

The influenza outbreak of 1918 was the worst epidemic in U.S. history. But not just the citizens of the United States suffered. This flu killed millions of people worldwide. That’s why it is called a pandemic.

It all started when troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, burned tons of horse manure on March 11. Within 24 hours, 100 soldiers had rushed to sick bay. Each one had a sore throat, a headache, and a high fever. When the victims began coughing, the flu spread like wildfire. Within a week 500 men were ill. It soon spread from one military base to another.

The railroads also helped the disease to spread across the nation rapidly. People who looked healthy even spread it. They didn’t even know they were sick until they collapsed. Towns were quarantined. This meant that no one could go in or out of a town in which there were no cases. But still the disease spread. And 21- to 29-year-olds, those who are often the most healthy, were the most apt to die. A few people did survive. But doctors did not know why.

It was unlike any flu ever seen before. People who woke up feeling fine could be dead by nightfall. They had such high fevers that all their hair fell out. The flu caused pneumonia, which is a build up of fluid in the lungs. The person’s skin turned blue and just before death, black. Some people were so afraid of the symptoms that they killed their whole families and then themselves.

Public places where people could gather, such as schools, theaters, and churches, closed. People did their jobs wearing masks. But the masks did little good since the germ was so small. It was like trying to keep out dust with a chain link fence. In September 1918 alone, 12,000 died. The next month the death toll was 195,000. People were dying so fast that survivors ran out of caskets. They started burying people in mass graves. There was no time for individual funerals, either. The outlook for survival was so grim that people had cadaver toe tags put on as they entered the hospital.

When American soldiers went overseas to fight in World War I, the flu went with them. Then it swept across Europe. A total of 30 million died worldwide. What finally stopped this deadly disease? The people who survived had developed immunity. The germ ran out of people to infect.

The Flu Pandemic of 1918

Major American Epidemics

(1832-2003)

The Flu Pandemic of 1918

1. The 1918 flu

a. left survivors insane.

b. was usually deadly.

c. was easy to survive.

d. was impossible to survive.

2. Which was not a symptom of this flu?

a. vomiting

b. sore throat

c. coughing

d. high fever

3. You can tell that cadaver toe tags were used to

a. cure the flu.

b. identify dead bodies.

c. prevent the disease from spreading.

d. give medical instructions to nurses.

4. Some people committed suicide due to their fear of the flu. True or False? Explain.

5. According to the chart, which two diseases kept happening during the 19th century (1800s) in the United States? In terms of epidemics, which two cities were the most dangerous in which to live? Why?

6. Could another pandemic like the one of 1918 happen in America again? Why or why not?