1918 Pandemic "Spanish Flu" Death Toll

From an estimated 20 million to 100 million world wide. Why the increase?

I have just launched a new page at TotalityofEvidence.com where you can track in chronological order my research findings for the 1918-19 pandemic. This page helps me keep track of my findings, as the reasearch makes twists and turns that can so easliy get one lost!

I’m attempting to find our what else was happeing at the time of the pandemic that could also explain the death toll, both in the U.S., Britain and Europe and other parts of the world as they come to my attention. It all helps to piece together the bigger picture. I hope you find it useful.

I’m not ready to do a write-up on this 1918 pandemic topic as yet, but you can start researching yourself if you choose.

Why has the death toll estimate increased 5 fold?

One curious point I would like to draw your attention to is the estimated death toll from this 1918-19 “pandemic”. The estimated global population in 1918 was around 1.8 billion people, and of course World War I was in full swing, so the world was not functioning optimally!

The estimated mortality from this disease refered to as “influenza” (a cat-all term for the collection of symptoms experienced) has for some reason increased 5 fold from 1997 to 2020, which consequently makes the disease and death toll appear deadlier and deadlier!

Before I present that data, also be aware of the 3 key figures who keep popping up in the science publications for 1918 influenza in relation to the discovery of “the influenza virus sequence”, mask use, deaths were mostly due to pnuemonia and most recently promotion of the “next-generation” vaccines. Two of them originally worked for the US military, at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and then by 2008, all of them worked for the National Instituted of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). They are:

• Dr. Jeffery K. Taubenberger

• Dr. David M. Morens

• Dr. Anthony S. Fauci

I find this military-NIAID link quite curious. You will find reference to these characters on the new page I launched.

Following the start of the human genome project launched in 1990, when mass funding was being poured into gene sequencing, the task was made to find out what caused the “influenza” pandemic of 1918-19.

In 1997 Taubenberger was instrumental in sequencing an influenza virus gene code found, in part, from 2 preserved lungs of US military persons and in full, from an exhumed perm-frosted body of an obese woman buried in a mass grave in Alaska. He attributed this gene sequence H1N1 to be “the pathogen” responsible for the deaths of those who died of “influenza” or pneumonia in the “Spanish flu” of 1918-19.

How many people died?

March 21, 1997 - Taubenberger wrote “The “Spanish” influenza pandemic killed at least 20 million people in 1918-1919″

September 1, 2003 – Taubenberger wrote “The 1918 pandemic killed nearly 700 000 Americans and 40 million people worldwide.”. The same in 2006.

January 2006 - Taubenberger wrote “The "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, which caused ≈50 million deaths worldwide,”

March 2006 Taubenberger wrote “The “Spanish” influenza pandemic of 1918–19 caused acute illness in 25–30 percent of the world’s population and resulted in the death of up to an estimated 40 million people.”

March 20, 2019 - The CDC website states: “It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide.”

December 2020 - Book The Great Influenza- The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History - quotes “history’s most lethal influenza virus...[killed] as many as 100 million people worldwide.”

Some basic maths

So based on a global population of 1.8 billion in 1918, where 1/3 became infected that equates to an estimated 600 million infected.

The population mortality rates based on the estimated death figures above:

• 20 million = 20,000,000/1,800,000,000 = 1.11%

• 40 million = 40,000,000/1,800,000,000 = 2.22%

• 50 million = 50,000,000/1,800,000,000 = 2.78%

• 100 million = 100,000,000/1,800,000,000 = 5.56%

The estimated Infection Fatality Rate estimate based on the death figures above:

• 20 million = 20,000,000/600,000,000 = 3.33%

• 40 million = 40,000,000/600,000,000 = 6.67%

• 50 million = 50,000,000/600,000,000 = 8.33%

• 100 million = 100,000,000/600,000,000 = 16.67%

What number do you believe? Why did the estimates go up over the years? Is this all to promote fear?

What I have found so far, indicates that there was a perfect storm of factors that convered at that period in history, together with some statistical gymnastics, that could explain many deaths to factors other than the result of pathogen.

And why hasn’t “influenza” been as dramatic, fast and "novel” since this time? Could it be that a pathogen wasn’t the cause?

Taubenberger’s 2006 CDC abstract shows there remains many unanswered questions, I suspect they haven’t and will not look in the places I will explore!

source

---

Support Jack’s Work

If you find the content at Totality of Evidence useful for yourself or to help awaken your family and friends, please consider becoming a paid subscriber so I can continue to add to this historical record.

From time to time I’ll add a stack here, but most of my work is done on the website, your support here, supports my work there!

Otherwise share the website on social media and subscribe to my substack so you get my next stack in your inbox!