Journal+Entry+3


 * Dear Journal #3 **
 * June 1928 **

It has been years since the end of the pandemic. I had put this journal away in the attic, as symbolic message to show the passing away of the lives and the virus itself. However, our family is moving soon into the city and I rediscovered this today. I have saved some newspapers in the same box this journal was kept in, those published long after the end of the disease that discuss the scientific aspects of the disease rather than the social effects. The New York Times this morning had the headline, **“10 Years Since Spanish Flu Hit America”**.  An editor had published an article about Spanish Influenza to commemorate the 10th anniversary since its start in 1918. I had already known some of the facts, but apparently, Spanish Flu was not caused by the Spaniards. As many as 8 million people were killed in Spain in just May of 1918, but it originated in Kansas. The global death toll is estimated to be between 20 million and 100 million according to some sources, but I and the rest of my remaining colleagues would guess the total to be around 40 to 50 million. I found a particular arti cle to be astonishing as it contained the statistical facts confirmed by the US government. The US Census Report that year shows that an astonishing 25% of Americans were affected by the flu in 1918, with around 650,000 deaths occurring within 2 years. I would not have noticed that living in the countryside, and for that alone,  I feel extremely fortunate to have avoided it. As I read the papers, I remembered studying about the European Black Plague in college. I do not recall the exact numbers, but I am fairly certain that Spanish Flu killed many more than that of the Bubonic Plague! I will have to research this at a later time. In India, a reported 12.5 million deaths occurred at the peak of the pandemic. It spread to even the most remote islands in New Zealand and Samoa. I feel extremely fortunate to have lived through this, and I think that this will go down in history as a major event. It has only been 10 years, but I wonder what the effects of Spanish Influenza will be on the future. Having been a part of history though, makes me feel more connected with it. I fear what a disease like Spanish Flu can do to us humans, but yet my years of training have made me awestruck to learn more about it everyday.


 * The death toll of Spanish Flu is 50 million. **