UPSC Articles
Spanish Flu
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II- Governance
In News:
- As COVID-19 grows into a global health crisis, parallels are being drawn with the Spanish influenza of 1918-19,
- Spanish Flu is considered the most devastating pandemic in recent history, with an estimated toll of 20-50 million lives.
- The 1918 influenza pandemic (1918-20; colloquially known as the Spanish flu) was the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus, with the second being the swine flu in 2009.
- The focal point of that pandemic a century ago was India (brought to India by World War I soldiers returning home), where between 10-20 million Indians died
