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A Look Back: The 1918 Flu Pandemic
POSTED: 10:24 am EST March 3, 2006
UPDATED: 4:57 pm EST March 3, 2006
The following report by Channel 4 Action News reporter Janelle Hall first aired on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. on March 3, 2006.
When scientists talk about the bird flu, the word that often comes up is "pandemic" -- the fear the flu will rapidly spread, infecting a large part of the population.
In order to grasp that kind of magnitude, Channel 4 Action News turns the history pages back to the year 1918.
That's when more than 20 million people worldwide died from the flu -- 4,500 of them from Pittsburgh.
Channel 4 Action News spoke with three remarkable women --one who's more than a 100 years old-- for a lesson in living history.
"So many of the boys from town were in the Army," 93-year-old Sara Nelson said.
Troops were returning from World War I.
"There was so much sickness," said 108-year-old Nellie Green.
Unknowingly, some troops carried flu viruses that lead to the deadliest epidemic both in America and across the world.
"It was very scary," 99-year-old Mary McGinley said.
The great influenza of 1918 killed millions around the globe.
"The doctors were so busy they couldn't take care of them all," Nelson said.
In Pittsburgh, people wore masks to avoid the deadly disease that infected 22,000 people in the city alone -- one-fourth of those victims died.
The McGinley sisters remember those times vividly. Their baby sister got the flu.
"They wouldn't let me in the room where she was cause they were afraid I'd get it, too," Nelson said.
Their aunt cared for the sick child with a homemade remedy.
"She asked for a bottle of whiskey. My father said, 'You don't drink.' She said, 'Get it.' She soaked that blanket in the bottle of whiskey and wrapped the baby up and held her all night," McGinley said.
"He shook his head and he didn't think the baby was going to live," Nelson said.
"The fumes from the whiskey -- she inhaled, and it kept her alive," McGinley said. "That sounded like an old story, but it was true."
In those times, one could get fined for spitting in public because some believed saliva spread "death."
Pittsburgh schools and entertainment establishments shut down.
Military beds turned into hospital beds.
In 1918, so many people were dying from the flu in Winfield Township, Butler County, so quickly that a lot of people said they had no choice but to bury the flu victims all at once in one mass grave.
A white cross marked that memorial. And within the last couple of years, some of the people from the area visited the site and placed a more permanent memorial at the site -- a stone cross in honor of those victims who died from the flu.
No one knows exactly how many victims rest there.
Immigrant industrial workers made up most of the 260 deaths in the city of Butler alone. One to five bodies filled each grave, now marked by faded flowers and an American flag.
One to five bodies filled each grave, now marked by faded flowers and an American flag.
"I was glad none of us got it, really," Green said.
Green, of Bethel Park, wasn't so lucky.
"When I got it, I don't know how I got it. I guess it must have been in the air because I did get it," Green said.
Doctors left medicine on her window sill for fear of contracting the flu themselves.
Eighty-eight years later, doctors are still trying to learn about the great influenza from 1918.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created strains of the virus.
A Look Back: The 1918 Flu Pandemic
POSTED: 10:24 am EST March 3, 2006
UPDATED: 4:57 pm EST March 3, 2006
The following report by Channel 4 Action News reporter Janelle Hall first aired on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. on March 3, 2006.
When scientists talk about the bird flu, the word that often comes up is "pandemic" -- the fear the flu will rapidly spread, infecting a large part of the population.
In order to grasp that kind of magnitude, Channel 4 Action News turns the history pages back to the year 1918.
That's when more than 20 million people worldwide died from the flu -- 4,500 of them from Pittsburgh.
Channel 4 Action News spoke with three remarkable women --one who's more than a 100 years old-- for a lesson in living history.
"So many of the boys from town were in the Army," 93-year-old Sara Nelson said.
Troops were returning from World War I.
"There was so much sickness," said 108-year-old Nellie Green.
Unknowingly, some troops carried flu viruses that lead to the deadliest epidemic both in America and across the world.
"It was very scary," 99-year-old Mary McGinley said.
The great influenza of 1918 killed millions around the globe.
"The doctors were so busy they couldn't take care of them all," Nelson said.
In Pittsburgh, people wore masks to avoid the deadly disease that infected 22,000 people in the city alone -- one-fourth of those victims died.
The McGinley sisters remember those times vividly. Their baby sister got the flu.
"They wouldn't let me in the room where she was cause they were afraid I'd get it, too," Nelson said.
Their aunt cared for the sick child with a homemade remedy.
"She asked for a bottle of whiskey. My father said, 'You don't drink.' She said, 'Get it.' She soaked that blanket in the bottle of whiskey and wrapped the baby up and held her all night," McGinley said.
"He shook his head and he didn't think the baby was going to live," Nelson said.
"The fumes from the whiskey -- she inhaled, and it kept her alive," McGinley said. "That sounded like an old story, but it was true."
In those times, one could get fined for spitting in public because some believed saliva spread "death."
Pittsburgh schools and entertainment establishments shut down.
Military beds turned into hospital beds.
In 1918, so many people were dying from the flu in Winfield Township, Butler County, so quickly that a lot of people said they had no choice but to bury the flu victims all at once in one mass grave.
A white cross marked that memorial. And within the last couple of years, some of the people from the area visited the site and placed a more permanent memorial at the site -- a stone cross in honor of those victims who died from the flu.
No one knows exactly how many victims rest there.
Immigrant industrial workers made up most of the 260 deaths in the city of Butler alone. One to five bodies filled each grave, now marked by faded flowers and an American flag.
One to five bodies filled each grave, now marked by faded flowers and an American flag.
"I was glad none of us got it, really," Green said.
Green, of Bethel Park, wasn't so lucky.
"When I got it, I don't know how I got it. I guess it must have been in the air because I did get it," Green said.
Doctors left medicine on her window sill for fear of contracting the flu themselves.
Eighty-eight years later, doctors are still trying to learn about the great influenza from 1918.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created strains of the virus.
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