Posted on 10/24/2005 1:11:09 PM PDT by StoneGiant
That timeline is excellent. No doubt there were less serious cases of the 1918 flu that didn't need or seek medical help, maybe even passed it off as a cold.
The number of people who DID seek medical care, and the numbers who died, are unimaginable today for most people.
Nonetheless, it could happen again.
Was not the shortened life expectancy mostly due to infant mortality? I was under the impression that for those who survived childhood, lifespans weren't much different than they are today.
Consider that if such was true, Social Security would have gone bust before it got going. When it was started, the average age at death was 63. Remember: infections without antibiotics. Just deaths from flu and pneumonia, not to mention consumption (tuberculosis), and a virtuall zero chance of surviving heart disease. People were lucky to live long enough to get cancer.
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