During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, did society question whether or not recovered patients will remain immune?
score:38
The statement by the WHO reflects uncertainty, but also a comparatively advanced knowledge of what is actually happening. We know that there is a virus that causes the disease and we know that people develop antibodies in response to that virus. We know that immunity is a very likely possibility, we just aren't sure if it's guaranteed.
The situation in 1918 was very different. The overall uncertainties were much greater. The discovery of antibodies was much more recent and our understanding of them more rudimentary. Influenza viruses were not discovered until the 1930s. The efforts to develop an influenza vaccine in 1918 still assumed the disease was caused by bacteria. (EDIT: However, as @JonathanReez shows in the comments, the general concept of immunity through exposure was a possibility known since ancient times.)
If one looks at research conducted shortly after the fact, scientists were only beginning to suspect that people who got the 1918 flu in one wave probably became immune to it in the subsequent waves. Statements about immunity are notably tenuous. For example:
Concerning the important question of the immunity conferred by an attack of influenza, the evidence is not conclusive [...] Parsons, from his study of the last epidemic, inclines to the view that an attack of influenza in the earlier years of the epidemic conferred a considerable but not absolute immunity in the later outbreaks.
(EDIT: Military leaders had similar suspicions based on their observations and experience. Here is an article that documents this in the US context.)
It would be interesting to look at more general public discussions from 1918 about if and when the high mortality was going to end. Based on past epidemics, people may have assumed it would end soon. But I don't expect you will find statements quite like the one quoted in the question because it was not widely assumed in the first place that antibodies would protect from re-infection.
More post
- 📝 Is there any precedent to Duterte's "Shoot them dead" call for policy violators in a Democracy?
- 📝 How did the mortality of the Native Americans happen?
- 📝 When the Chinese were driven out of modern Vietnam in AD 938, did an Vietnamese ethnic identity already exist?
- 📝 Why was Caliph Suleyman disliked by the noted generals in the Umayyad army?
- 📝 How many times did the the sacred fire of Vesta die?
- 📝 Why was Seattle chosen for the site of Expo 62?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this European ?naval uniform from photograph and likely date (belle époque)?)
- 📝 At the end of WW2, multiple German leaders either committed suicide or made preparations to do so -- was this unprecedented?
- 📝 How regularly did the Romans bathe?
- 📝 Did "el Empecinado" fight in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810)?
- 📝 Which historians argue that WWII was caused by Fascism as a reaction to Communism?
- 📝 In WW2, why didn't Japan invade Macau?
- 📝 Have there ever been maximum age limits for public office in the United States?
- 📝 Why are there holidays marking VE/VJ/Armistice Day in different cultures, while many other wars aren't commemorated at their conclusion?
- 📝 What were common reasons people attended executions in mid 1930s.?
- 📝 How does a runic alphabet work?
- 📝 Did the Soviets have an alternate source of oil in Iran during World War II?
- 📝 Which is the oldest language in the World?
- 📝 In what sense was marriage in 19th century Europe "expensive"?
- 📝 Why did Thomas Jefferson almost lose the 1800 presidential election to Aaron Burr?
- 📝 How Did The US Justice System Lose Sight of Intent?
- 📝 How much gold did America hold at the Nixon shock?
- 📝 What are the modern names of the nations mentioned in Ystoria Mongalorum?
- 📝 How historically accurate are the Assassin's Creed games?
- 📝 How many electric light companies operated in New York in 1887?
- 📝 Did Lisa Chester (Xiola Blue) miss her father's funeral?
- 📝 How did the Germans get housing again after WWII?
- 📝 How did the United Kingdom government come to be responsible for defence of the Channel Islands?
- 📝 Long time to reach news in Thirty Years' War
- 📝 How common was the German desire for revenge for the humiliation of 1918 armistice?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, did society question whether or not recovered patients will remain immune?
- 📝 Why did the Byzantines not try to recover Syria during the war between Ali and Muawiya?
- 📝 Did the 1918 flu pandemic affect travel within USA, and in what ways?
- 📝 Were cities that enacted lockdowns during the 1918 flu pandemic successful in preventing any infections?
- 📝 Is the 1918 flu pandemic responsible for the majority of Iranian casualties during the first world war?
- 📝 How did the authorities not find the speakeasy clubs during the prohibition?
- 📝 Why did the Soviets not shoot down US spy satellites during the Cold War?
- 📝 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic - Experience
- 📝 Why did the German Military and Police not intervene during the years of NSDAP ascend?
- 📝 What did people used to exchange for goods during the 1920s German hyperinflation while the official currency was not trusted
- 📝 Why did the maize-based society that Spain found in the Central Valley of Mexico not dominate over Europe?
- 📝 Why did the GHQ not promote English during the occupation?
- 📝 When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why did Canada not join the American Revolution?
- 📝 Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse but not the Eastern Roman Empire?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 Why did Europe not see Roman-era numbers of men participating in battles until the 17th century?
- 📝 Did the Soviets excel in one area of weaponry during World War II?
- 📝 How did the Nazis plan to defeat America during World War II?
- 📝 Where did Asian Americans go to school during the 'separate but equal' era?
- 📝 Did the King of Siam offer war elephants to the Union during the Civil War?
- 📝 Why did the United States not resort to nuclear weapons in Vietnam?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not order the use of poison gas in combat?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 Why did the Royal Society in 1771 believe that a continent further south than Australia should exist?
- 📝 Did people use to marry much younger during the last millennium?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union out-pace the US during the space-race?
- 📝 Why were British ships not of the same quality as French and Spanish ships until the latter part of the 18th century?
- 📝 How did people deal with ice on the roads during the horse-and-buggy era?