Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Summer 2020 - 20

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Book Review

The Great Influenza:
The Story of the Deadliest
Pandemic in History
By JOHN M. BARRY

Reviewed by The Honorable Jeffrey K. Sprecher
"There was a mild spring wave that was hit-or-miss. It came back in the fall with
more than a vengeance - late September 1918 through December."

F

ifteen years ago, John M. Barry released the book, The
Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in
History. I re-read the book in March while hunkered
down. The book is a New York Times best-seller and winner of
many awards. I call it to the attention of fellow members of
the Bar to help understand what happened 100 years ago, when
675,000 Americans died, and to help us navigate the current
pestilent storm waters. I was interested in drawing parallels
between the 1918 virus and this one.

The book is dedicated to Paul Lewis, whom Barry describes as
every bit a warrior in addition to, a virologist, epidemiologist who
was trained well to hunt death - which he was compelled to do.
But death had never appeared to him as it did in mid-September
1918. Lewis was head of the Henry Phipps Institute, a research
facility associated with the University of Pennsylvania, which
placed him on the front line of the pandemic of 1918.

Sadly, Philadelphia exemplified a fallacious chapter in the
1918 influenza battle, a vivid example of politics trumping
science. 1 The leaders of the city acted against medical advice and
allowed a very large public Liberty Loan2 parade to go ahead as
scheduled:

On September 28, marchers in the greatest parade in the city's
history proudly stepped forward. The parade stretched at
least two miles, two miles of bands, flags, Boy Scouts, women's
auxiliaries, marines, sailors, and soldiers. Several hundred
thousand people jammed in the parade route, crushing against
each other to get a better look, the ranks behind shouting
encouragement over shoulders and past faces to the brave
young men. It was a grand sight indeed. Krusen assured
them they were in no danger.

Two days later, every bed in each of the city's 31 hospitals
was filled. On October 1, the third day following the parade,
the epidemic killed 117 people; fatalities increased, some days
20 | Berks Barrister

doubling. On October 10 alone, 759 people died from the virus.
14,500 people died from the influenza, most of them in just 6
weeks. Two-thirds of the dead in Philadelphia were under age 40.
Shockingly, neither the mayor nor the entire city government had
done anything during this period to protect the citizens.
Enter Paul Lewis. His work and his name are referenced on
dozens of pages thereafter. But Philadelphia is not where the
pandemic began. For that, we will need to travel west to Haskell
County, Kansas, back seven months to February 1918 where and
when it was believed to have begun.
Worldwide Fatalities

Mr. Barry's research lists the lowest estimated worldwide
death toll at 21 million people in a world with one-third the
population of today. However, epidemiologists now estimate
influenza caused at least 50 million deaths worldwide, and
possibly as many as one-hundred million, the equivalent of 225 to
450 million people today.
The pandemic spread because soldiers and sailors traveled
distances well beyond those ever imagined by anyone.
Consequently, the influenza which traditionally kills the elderly,
killed high percentages of young, healthy men and women in the
prime of their lives.
Critique of the Medical Degree

Most of his 500 pages explain in detail what one would
expect, the horrendous history of the influenza of 1918. However,
almost as instructive is Barry's history of disease and medicine.
One will immediately notice the absence of the disciplines of
chemistry, anatomy, pathology, and research methodology in the
recent medical education and practice until the mid-1800s and
then only in Germany and France. It was even later that lab
research began to be taught in America.
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