The Killer FluFamily Histoe Spanish Flu of 1918

The fastest killer

The Spanish Flu of 1918 has been called history's Fastest Killer since it wiped out an estimated 25 to 40 million people. The influenza outbreak began in 1918, took about 7 days to sweep across America, and three months to sweep around the world. World. More Americans (about 675,000) would die from this flu than were killed during both World Wars, the Korean, and the Vietnam wars combined. Its name appears to be a misnomer as the first reported outbreaks were at an Army fort in Kansas and was probably carried by wild ducks.

Archille's Death

Apparently it took longer to reach Escanaba in Michigan's upper peninsula where it killed Archille Thomas LaBranche -- father of Eileen Schmitt and Evelyn LaBranche (Antie Ev) -- on February 9, 1920. Antie Ev, not quite five years old at the time, remembers a loud noise from the downstairs that night and thought her parents were having a party. She woke her brother Tom and they came down to find their mother crying loudly.Archille died of "Lobar Pneumonia and Influenza" 12 days short of his 36th birthday.

Spare the child

As unlucky as this flu was for Eileen's mother who would be faced with raising her large family by herself, the rest of us were fortunate that this particular flu rather than a typical flu took Archille. While most flus kill the very old or the very young -- those whose immune systems are not developed or have been damaged by age -- the Spanish Flu primarily struck down those in the prime of their lives. Therefore Archille at 35 was vulnerable while his 15 month old daughter Eileen was spared. (Eileen was not all that healthy: Six months later, her attending physician would declare that Eileen would not survive her hospitalization from Meningitis and Pneumonia. But like most young children, Eileen escaped the Spanish Flu.)

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