[서울신문]It is reported that the 1918-19 flu pandemic killed approximately 50 million people worldwide. At the time, the medical community believed that the flu spread quickly and that more young, healthy people were infected and died than the elderly. Is it true that more young people with healthy and strong immune systems died than the elderly?
Accordingly, a joint research team of the Department of Archeology at McMaster University in Canada, the Department of Archeology at the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States, and the Colorado Behavioral Science Institute announced on the 15th that the common belief that healthy young adults were particularly vulnerable during the 1918 flu pandemic, known as the ‘Spanish Flu’, is different from reality. These research results were published in the October 10th issue of PNAS, an international academic journal published by the National Academy of Sciences.
Despite numerous historical records, no concrete scientific evidence was found to support this common belief. Many studies of the 1918 flu pandemic rely on the analysis of documents such as statistics, census data, and life insurance records. These documents do not include information on chronic illnesses, living conditions, eating habits, or chronic stressors that affect health.
Accordingly, the research team forensically reanalyzed the remains of 369 adult men and women who died between 1910 and 1938 stored at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The research team divided the remains into those who died before the pandemic and those who died during the pandemic.
A person’s skeletal structure can undergo continuous changes due to deteriorating health, which is expressed in symptoms such as reduced height or dental defects. It is the same principle as being able to understand the environment at the time by looking at the growth rings of a tree.
As a result of the analysis, the research team found indicators of stress caused by lesions and external infections in the shin bones of those who died during the pandemic. Evidence found in the bones can help determine whether the owner of the remains died while the lesion was active, during treatment, or after complete healing, the research team explained.
The research team emphasized that a few anecdotal accounts cannot explain the entire pandemic situation and pointed out that the mortality rate in a pandemic caused by a new infectious disease is a complex intertwining of many factors.
Amanda Wisler, a professor at McMaster University in Canada who led the study, said, “The distribution of deaths during the 1918 flu pandemic cannot be divided by age, and shows that the social, cultural, and immunological environment must all be viewed in a complex manner, as in the spread of other infectious diseases.” . Professor Wisler said, “It may seem obvious, but many people who were easily exposed to disease stress due to poor living conditions and poor nutrition died,” adding, “In a pandemic situation, a well-equipped public health system for vulnerable groups can lower the mortality rate.” .
Reporter Yoo Yong-ha
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2023-10-15 05:01:00
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