Lab 4/26/11

This week's lab we went to the Riverside Cemetery in Macon, Ga in order to collect field data of people who died from 1918-1920 who were buried there. This was done in order to produce a life table and get an idea of the impact the Spanish Flu Endemic had on the local population.

The Spanish Flu was a national pandemic of Influenza that devastated the worlds population at the end of the First World War. The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920. The origin of the flu is unknown but it spread across the world even to the arctic and remote islands of the pacific. The reason it is called the Spanish Flu is because Spain was the only country that didn't suppress news coverage of the outbreak. This outbreak was so devastating because unlike other Influenza outbreaks that targeted young and old victims, this virus primarily attacked young, healthy adults. 1/3 of the worlds population was infected by the flu, and an estimated 50 million, 3% of the worlds population at the time; died. Tissue studies conducted on preserved infected tissues replicated the the virus for study. Researchers discovered that the virus killed by a Cytokine Storm: the overreaction of the bodies immune system. This explains the death of younger victims because their strong immune systems ravaged the body.