World Under Siege: Spanish Flu 1918 vis-à-vis COVID-19

A century ago, Spanish Flu ravaged across the globe killing millions, devastating the world economy and creating a socio-political turmoil. Today the world is struggling again against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis. Despite landmark achievements in the field of medicine and advent of antiviral therapeutic interventions and measures, humanity finds itself as helpless as it was a hundred years ago.

Globally, the influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people in a year than what the Black Death of the Middle Ages (bubonic plague) killed in a century; it killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years wrote John M. Barry, historian and author, in his book The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.[1] This scourge in human history claimed around 50 million lives and shattered the world economy already in crisis as an aftermath of World War I. The Newspapers carried reports about a ‘fever epidemic’ that was sweeping throughout the world. The communication between states and cities was stopped, workshops got shut and most offices discovered that their staff had suddenly taken leave but nobody realised the magnitude of what was about to unfold. The main remedy prescribed in the news articles: Not to worry and go to bed.[2]

• References

• 1 John M. Barry. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. New York: Viking Press;
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• 8 Lehnung M, Shapiro E, Schreiber M. Arne Hofmann evaluating the EMDR Group traumatic episode protocol with refugees: a field study. J EMDR Pract Res 2017; 11 (03) 129-138
• 9 The economic fallout of COVID-19. The Hindu. Available at www.thehindu.com . Accessed on April 13, 2020
• 10 Homeopathy and the Treatment of Epidemics. Available at www.drmasiello.com . Accessed on April 15, 2020
• 11 Dewey WA. Homoeopathy in influenza - a chorus of fifty in harmony. J Am Instit Homoeopath 1921; 33 (02) 1038-1043
• 12 Miller A, Reandelar MJ, Fasciglione K, Roumenova V, Li Y, Otazu GH. Correlation between universal BCG vaccination policy and reduced morbidity and mortality for COVID-19: an epidemiological study. Available at www.medrxiv.org . Accessed on April 15, 2020
• 13 Gupta DCD. . Characteristic Materia Medica with Leading Therapeutics, p. 117
• 14 Pathogénésies del'an 1900 New, Old and Forgotten Remedies by Edward Pollock Anshutz. Available at http://www.homeoint.org/seror/patho1900/bacillinum.htm . Accessed on March 27, 2020