The story of the Spanish cold and its catastrophic impact on Bristol

Bristol looks back at another outbreak a century ago, being in the midst of a coronavirus paramedic not only closing many parts of the city’s economy, but also threatening people’s lives. You.

The 1918 pandemic, more commonly known as the Spanish flu, destroyed the planet’s population and killed 40 to 200 million people.

Eugene Byrne looks back on how cities responded to the pandemic and whether there are lessons to be learned.

On Monday, November 11, 1918, a chilly and damp night dawned in Bristol. There was intermittent light rain all day.

It is not usually the day you go out, but this is different. That morning we officially confirmed that the war was over.

World War I, World War I, the war to end all wars is over, and in Bristol, as in other parts of the country, there were everyone who could go to the streets to celebrate. In most cases it was a joy of victory, and all was the end of a completely blessed relief and killing of peace.

In Bristol, injured soldiers in uniform wore “blues at the hospital” and were mingled with girls and office workers at the factory. Some danced on the streets, people piled up on cars, trams, and trucks, cheering, waving flags. Students in academic gowns paraded on Park Street.

But the sight that everyone who saw it on that day remembered forever was the Urchin Band.

Approximately 30 boys, aged 5 to 15, marched from the Old Market to the town in full three breasts. They carried pots, frying pans, cans of biscuits, trash lids (any metal object they could place) and made almighty rackets.

However, according to witnesses, they marched as if they were practicing on the parade grounds for their young life.

Down Corn Street, past the Council House, past the commercial room where the mayor and city elite cheered each other and thanked God …

… A noisy little parade continued to Clare Street. Obviously trying to cross the tram center.

Watchful police officers looked at them and smiled. He stopped his hand and stopped, and waved with a wink and bow.

Notable to those days was the fact that this group of children was in the middle of town on Monday morning during the semester.

That’s because most schools in Bristol have been closed for more than two weeks.

One of the last bitter tragedies of the uplifting celebration of the Bristols on November 11, 1918, was the facilitation of the epidemic of a deadly illness that was constantly spreading around the world.

Spanish flu 1918-19

The influenza subtype H1N1 is thought to have originated from a migrating wild bird and jumped over the “species wall”, but no one knows where, or where, the pandemic occurred.

There are several different theories. It came from a U.S. military camp in Kansas, China, or a huge British camp in Etaple in northern France.

Or together from other places.

No matter where it came from, it was certainly not Spain. It became known as the Spanish flu because the war-neutral Spain did not have the rigorous media censorship that its opponents had. It was openly reported when the King of Spain fell on it.

Millions have died worldwide. In many parts of the world, the actual numbers are unknown because there were no health services or bureaucracy that could record them.

Estimates are between 400 and 200 million, but practical estimates are probably closer to the lower end of the scale.

In any case, the Spanish flu killed more than the war. Count the number of soldiers and civilians who have died as a result of the war. Still you do not approach the number of deaths caused by the virus.

When you turn blue, you will die.

“Heliotrope cyanosis” is a term used in 1918 to describe the blue / purple color of the skin of influenza patients whose blood oxygen levels were too low to survive. It was especially noticeable on the lips, ears, and fingertips, but also spread to the patient’s face and other parts of the body. The color was said to resemble a heliotrope flower.

The patient was literally suffocated because his lungs were filled with blood and other fluids.

You may not expect a flu attack to involve a lot of blood, but in 1918 it could work. One of the earliest symptoms experienced by some patients included heavy nosebleeds, or, among women, abnormally heavy menstruation.

Other symptoms included normal headache, general pain, pain, chills, fever, cough, sneezing, and sweating. In more serious cases, patients are often foamy and cough. Many patients experienced delirium and hallucinations, but lost their consciousness and were unaware of everything that was happening until just before death, many others were not.

The vast majority of people with the flu in 1918-19 will survive. Millions of deaths show how epidemic it was.

Most years, when the flu is hit, especially in the winter, it affects the elderly, very young people, and people with chronic or long-term health problems. But the cruelest thing about the Spanish flu was how to kill healthy young and middle-aged adults. Like most elderly patients, the majority of the children who caught it survived. The virus was primarily of interest to healthy adults.

Why it should be targeted at healthy adults is still a matter of scientific debate. One theory is that many of the dead are killed by so-called “cytokine storms”, and the body’s immune system literally turns itself on. Healthy adults had the most active immune systems and were therefore most at risk.

For every 10 Bristols who contracted the flu in the late 1918, one died.

Grim Reaper, furious as if deceived by the end of the war, pretended to be the last barbaric blade.

It came with three distinct waves. In Western Europe, it first appeared in the spring and early summer of 1918, and then appeared to retreat. There was a third small wave at the beginning of 1919. But the deadliest wave by far in Bristol and elsewhere was the fall of 1918.

Dr. David Samuel Davis, director of healthcare at Bristol, said that those who can rest and access medical care and nursing are more likely to recover. In other words, it hit the poor more strongly.

By October, Kommuninvest and the military had taken action. Understanding influenza was not as sophisticated as it is today, but we knew that influenza could spread from person to person.

In 1918, medicine knew about viruses, but no one had seen the virus because they were too small to see with a light microscope. It was widely believed that the cause could be a bacterium identified by a German physician during an early pandemic, the so-called Haemophilus influenzae.

At the end of October, Dr. Davis warned the general public: Precautionary measures against handing over the infection to others.

In October, all recreational facilities in Bristol were banned from soldiers recovering from injuries, especially at local hospitals. The ban was lifted on the truce on November 11, and seven days later, seven soldiers who participated in an event and tea ceremony held in Bristol’s Auditorium were affected by the flu.

Medicine that sucks nostrils from the nose

From his office on 40 Prince Street, a healthcare officer issued a leaflet outlining flu prevention measures. Following medical advice that is common in other parts of the country, he added that 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 bicarbonate (or 1 teaspoon of Condy’s Fluid, a common disinfectant) to a pint of hot water. Suggested.

You were to gargle this. However, I was able to snorze my nostrils until I reached the back of my throat.

By the way, Dr. Davis said he would use pure salt instead of salt. The problem with table salt at that time was that bones were often broken and mixed.

The press also provided instructions from Dr. Davis on how to make an improvised face mask that should be worn and burned by anyone who cares for flu patients.

Fresh air was considered one of the best ways to fight the flu. By October, all places of entertainment had been well ventilated between performances and ordered to be regularly “wet cleaned”.

Dr. Davis advised that offices, factories and other workplaces should be operated with wide open doors and windows whenever possible. “Wear extra clothing if necessary.”

There was also advice from other districts. According to the Western Daily Press: “Keep your mouth as close as possible, avoid indigestion, go out, be cheerful, avoid congestion, avoid excessive fatigue, eat vegetables and fruits (if available). Smoking reduces nervousness, I don’t smoke much because I tend to reduce my resistance to infections in my nose, mouth and throat. “

Bristol, like other cities, has a higher infection rate than rural areas because people living in overcrowded areas and people visiting downtown areas are more likely to come in contact with infected people.

Closed school

On October 23, all schools run by the Bristol Board of Education were closed. The Bristol Glamor School has canceled its award each year. Probably the gathering of other children and parents was postponed or canceled.

The municipal school was closed until November 18, but some boarding schools in Bristol also open during Christmas for parents worried about their children going home on overcrowded trains There were also things. Another social class boarder, a boy at Portishead Maritime School, the Christmas holiday has been canceled to prevent them from getting the flu.

Hospitals in the city, many of them were already crowded with soldiers injured in recent battles, but were flooded. A ward was opened in Ham Green, and a children’s sanatorium in Novers Hill was donated to influenza patients. Two of the staff have died.

The Eastville Workhouse Hospital, located at 100 Fish Pond Road, appears to have been the location with the most deaths. It handled 585 cases where 90 died. This did not mean that the workhouse or its hospital was a particularly unhealthy place-quite the opposite-because the high numbers acknowledged patients who lived elsewhere but were already quite sick is.

Due to the increased number of deaths, the city’s morgue had to be made available to dedicated Bristol contractors. Their profession, like others, was a state of the old who was stripped of labor by war demands and now unable to cope with the vast number of dead who must be buried.

There was a real threat to public health at this time, especially in working-class households, where deaths were often placed at home and corpses were placed anywhere for up to two weeks. So they were taken to the morgue, where they remained until coffins, burial grounds, and funeral homes became available.

At the request of Dr. Davis, a public order council oversight committee has called on trams and transport companies to prevent tram and bus congestion. It was to deny passengers who had only a room to stand up and to perform additional services as needed.

The company protested that it had already ventilated vehicles where possible. Either way, it was essential to work people for the war effort and it was certainly dangerous to make people waiting for the tram stand out in the cold as well for their health . In addition, the flu caused a serious shortage of drivers and conductors.

The Oversight Committee responded in plain language. All by-laws regarding tram congestion had to be strictly adhered to.

There was no “social distance” or separation order for all of these. The demand for war effort took precedence, which meant that the work had to continue as normal.

169 died in a week

All that most doctors can do is advise on prevention and care and make the person who has it as comfortable as possible. There was no other time.

At its peak in Bristol in November 1918, 169 people died in a week.

The number of Bristols who died in a pandemic cannot be exactly determined. Since the flu was not a noticeable disease, there was no need to formally record the diagnosis.

Overall, it killed something like 250,000 in the UK-a huge number, but one that was overlooked when set against combat casualties.

This was when the entire population was just over two-thirds today. For the coronavirus to make a comparable sacrifice today, it would have to kill about 400,000 Britons.

According to an annual report by Bristol healthcare officials, 1,058 people in Bristol died from influenza by the year ending December 28, 1918, and 434 died in 1919, bringing the total to 1,492.

However, this does not take into account the number of men and women who leave Bristol or have left the Royal Navy. It did not include merchants or nurses who temporarily left home. These were almost all young and healthy people, and they were the main targets of the disease.

At the same time, several non-Bristols died in the city, especially wounded soldiers in a number of war hospitals in Bristol and convalescent homes for convalescent homes.

The number of Bristols dying elsewhere may have been evened out by non-Bristol soldiers and women dying in the city, but this was probably not the case. The deaths at war hospitals seem to be low, as the hospitals were in a tightly controlled environment where strict measures could be taken to prevent the spread of the flu.

This number is also conservative, as flu-related deaths are often due to more direct causes. One example is pneumonia, often a complication of influenza, which killed 546 Bristol residents in 1918-about 100 more than the previous year’s average.

The death certificate included the cause of the death, which was the responsibility of the individual physician. Your doctor can cause death from the flu, but it can be as simple as heart disease and respiratory problems, and the flu has recently died.

For all these reasons, it seems reasonable to speculate that influenza was directly or indirectly involved in the death of at least 1,700, and in some cases even more, Bristols.

Story of victim

At 11:45 pm Monday night, November 11, 1918, 26-year-old Ellen Maria Way opened and climbed a bedroom window in Trotterdown, Crescent, St. Luke.

The war would end that day, and when you opened the windows, you would hear celebratory sounds, upright piano sounds, and tipsy songs in nearby homes.

If she were not sick, she might have gone out into the city during the day and joined girls from other factories dancing in a circle on the street. She welcomed the amorous attention of the rejoicing soldiers.

Ellen, 26, had a factory in Wills, Bedminster. By the standards at the time, she was doing well and had every reason to live.

But she had the flu. Her mother also got down and was in bed when she heard the window at the opening of Ellen’s room. She called out to her family.

Ellen’s father and sister rushed to Ellen’s room and found wide windows open at the bottom. They looked out and then ran into the backyard, where they found Ellen lying on the ground dead.

A few days later, the coroner’s investigation reported that the death was due to a broken skull. The court found that Ellen had died jumping out of her window during a “delirium” caused by the flu.

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Another tragedy

The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-19 further engulfed tragedies, further increasing the suffering of countless families around the world already broken by murderous and futile wars.

This is not the comfort of the week coming to those who lose their loved ones with the new virus. This time we may comfort ourselves with a simple tolerance for something not as bad as the combination of the pandemic and WWII. In addition, we sit comfortably in box sets and stored food.

But again, this is not comfort for the bereaved, but not for those living in dreadful loneliness.

Apart from the obvious morals of the importance of social distance, there is little to learn from 1918.

Probably except for other things. I consider it too natural. Many of us too often assume that everything is fine and everything proceeds as usual.

Although the past few weeks have proven, the history does not work that way. The Spanish flu hit the lives of grandmothers and great-grandmothers. It was only yesterday.