The history of the mankind knows many dangerous diseases that have been occurred during history. The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 is one of them. It was spread across the world, and was extremely severe and deadly pandemic. Nobody could estimate the exact number of victims, but it was a real disaster for environmental health.
From the historical research it is known that the Spanish influenza pandemic lasted from January 1918 to December 1920. The victims of this disease were mainly healthy adults of 20-50 years old. The reasons for this remain unknown till today. Illness came very quickly. People might feel healthy in the morning and could die by night. According to research, between 50 and 130 million people died; approximately 20% – to 40% of the population in the world were infected. It is more than were killed in WWII, nuclear catastrophes and terrorists` attacks combined. About 675,000 people died in the United States (Broxmeyer & Cantwell, 2008). There have been four waves of illness with different characteristics. Pandemic was spread from Arctic to Pacific islands. To investigate the origin of the pandemic virus, tissue samples from frozen victims were taken. The scientists concluded that the virus killed the immune system that is why people died so fast. Obviously, this pandemic flu was a severe attack on the environmental health. It was impossible to stop this illness, because there was no remedy for it. One more reason is that medicine was not developed in the beginning of the 20th century as it is today.
In conclusion, in the modern world, people are protected from such kinds of illnesses. Though, there are still many countries in the world, where medicine and environmental healthcare are not developed. People from poor countries need support and help in order to survive.