How does the “Swine Flu” Compare with the great Spanish influenza of 1918?
School closings, Face masks, Doctors tracking emerging cases. All eerily similar to the “Swine Flu” health scare of today. Back then, the first flu cases in Tennessee came from Nashville in late September. This time, the first probable Tennessee case of “Swine flu” has again shown up in Nashville, in April. Back then, roughly one month after the first reports, 11,000 in Tennessee would be stricken with the influenza, and 650 would be dead. The fact the current ’swine flu’ has shown to be contagious is alarming. So far the virus has shown to have a 6.3% mortality rate, according to Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova’s figures .It may not seem like much, but please consider the following: The deadly influenza panic in 1918 had a mortality rate of under 1% in the US and up to 2.5 % worldwide. There is no rational reason to think that if a pandemic strikes Tennessee will be immune. In 1918 Tennessee felt the blow of the Great Flu, as did the rest of the Nation. While numbers are difficu
