Is it true that the Spanish flu did not arise in Spain?

There is a common opinion that the influenza virus, which caused a pandemic at the beginning of the 20th century, is called a Spaniard because it was first registered in Spain, and from there it has already spread to other countries and continents. We decided to check whether such an etymology of the name of the disease is true.

If we turn to the international classification of diseases (ICD), then in it you can find many geographical names in the names of diseases. The virus of the fever of the Western Nile was first Highlighted From the blood of the patient from Uganda, the country, from where the Nile originates. Zika virus Name In honor of the forest, where Macaca Rezus was caught, from whose blood it was able to isolate it. Congo-Crimean fever, as the name, was Fixed For the first time in isolated both in the Crimea and in the Congo. Even the causative agent of modern pandemia of coronavirus infection sometimes called Chinese virus. It is logical to assume that a similar principle of appropriation of the name could be used in the case of Spanish influenza.

Spaniard (flu virus serotype H1N1) infected at least 500 million people (for comparison, as of September 14, 2021 coronavirus infection in the world Sick 225 million people), of which, according to various estimates, Died from 50 to 100 million (from Covid-19-only 4.6 million people). Only after almost 80 years, in 1997, scientists succeeded get A sample of fabrics with a virus that has survived in the organs of buried in eternal permafrost. In 2002, researchers were able to recreate the virus genome, and in 2007- infect The monkeys obtained by the virus, causing them the appropriate clinical symptoms. Like Sars-Cov-2, the Spanish virus posed a threat to the fact that provoked The patients have a cytokine storm.

According to the latest data, the first cases of this flu disease happened In the spring of 1918, in the United States, among the military personnel of one of the bases in Kansas. However, the disease did not stand out with a severe course and was Described local doctors like a cold. The whole first wave of the Spanish Different Deadty, and at the end of summer, even went on decline. It is appropriate to draw some parallel with coronavirus, whose first option - Ujan - also had smaller mortality than the Alpha options that appeared after some time and "Delta". 

The second wave that began in the fall of 1918, Touched Already not only the United States, but also the countries of Europe, primarily the US allies in the First World War - France and the UK. Researchers Markthat the war significantly weakened the immunity of the inhabitants of Europe and, therefore, made people more vulnerable to the virus. By the end of autumn, the epidemic reached Asia and Africa, affected the territory of the former Russian Empire. For some time, death was attributed not to the virus, but to other factors. They also mentioned the weapons of mass destruction of IPRIT, and even distributed a conspiracy theory about poisoned aspirin released by the German pharmacological company Bayer. Interestingly, after a hundred years, this conspiracy theory in a modified form continued to exist - in 2017 in Kazakhstan distributed The newsletter that the paracetamol tablets was the Machupo virus. The warring countries to the last tried to hide the outbreak of an previously unknown disease. However, in neutral Spain, wartime censorship did not act, so the country's media opened write About the epidemic of an unprecedented disease in its mortality. 

It is worth noting that the Spaniards themselves in these publications did not use this name: they called The disease is French influenza, suspecting that French workers-migrant workers spread the virus, then Russian. True, there are not enough sufficiently strong microscopes to determine the pathogen, then there was no one, so guilty of the epidemic appointed Bacillus Pfaiffer (today known as a hemophilic stick). The epidemic was declining in 1919, separate outbreaks registered Until 1920.

Thus, if you strictly follow the principle of the name of the disease in the place where it first appeared, Spanish flu would be more logical to call an American or American. True, it is worth noting that the United States is not deprived of mentions in the ICD. Enough to recall the spotty fever Rocky mountains or flu strains called "Washington" And "Wisconsin".

Is it true

What do our verdicts mean?

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2. Conspirative pandemic