“I had a little bird, and his name was Enza; I opened the window and in flew Enza.” This is a rhyme that children played rope to during the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1918. The Spanish Influenza was deadly and could not be stopped. Even though this tragic year long pandemic was unable to be prevented; doctors, professors, and citizens all gave their input on how to try and stop it. In the end over one-hundred million people died world wide and when it ended people took extra precautions.

In India the spread of the flu increased from 2,700 people dead to 21,000 in only one week. This shows how deadly the Influenza was. Sadly people failed to take this seriously. Anyone knew if they had it because they would have 3 days of fever, drippy nose, achy bones followed by a slow recovery. A speedy, deadlier, more painful version of this flu is when victims started vomiting blood.After the vomiting, their lungs became full with a vile type thick fluid and their whole body started to turn dark blue, deprived of oxygen. Finally their feet would turn black and by the next day, they were dead. During this pandemic everyone accused Spain for spreading the flu, therefor people called it the Spanish Influenza. Spaniards called it the German flu, and Germans the blitzkatarrh. Yet another tragedy happened to be that the bug spread most quickly through the healthiest including pregnant women.

Even though this pandemic was unable to be stopped everyone tried to help. The president of the board of health decided to make changes to some of the laws and add new ones as well. All over the world people and places were being quarantined, which means to be isolated to prevent the spread of a disease. The health board even passed a new law which made it illegal to cough or sneeze in public without using a handkerchief. Another way the board of health helped people  stay safe and healthy was by wearing gauze mask’s. These laws were reinforced by everyone. Citizens who did not follow this law were fined and locked up. Public facilities such as theaters, church’s, dance halls, libraries, and restaurants were closed or put under quarantine throughout this pandemic. These locations were often times used also as hospitals for those who had the disease. For instance; one of the many places that were quarantined was a brewery right here in San Diego. This brewery was used at the time as a hospital where the sick could die. Because this was the most virulent and murderous epidemic the nation had yet experienced, thousands of people died there.

By the end of this epidemic over 100 million people had died world wide. The devastating effects of WW1 coupled with the H1N1 flu epidemic caused people to want normalcy in their lives again. People felt as though their normalcy had been robbed from them and they wanted to go back to the “good old days”. By Armiscist day, November 11 of 1918, the war had finally ended and the roaring twenties began. People and styles had changed and finally people had normalcy.

After this tragic epidemic people learned a lot. Symptoms they had to look out for in case anything like this happened again, the cure to the madness, and what to expect after it ends.