War versus Diseases, What kills the most? By Angela Bernales

The FLU pandemic of 1918 - 1919 is something that we have to remember when we compare the power of war machines designed for massive destruction or a simple disease that can kill much more in a less period of time than a war-conflict that  last years or decades before it is resolved.
The FLU that we are talking about, erupted during the final stages of World War I.  Nations were in the process of dealing with the effects and cost of the war itself. All of a sudden the FLU circled the globe. Almost everyone felt the effects. Outbreaks swept through North America, Europe, Asia, India, Brazil, and the South Pacific.
The FLU killed more people than the World War I, at somewhere between 20 and 40 millions. It is remembered as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. In India the mortality rate was extremely high. In Spain the FLU killed 8 million.
In United States of America, in general, one quarter of its population was affected. It was so severe that the average life span was depressed by 10 years.
People were struck with FLU on the street and died rapid deaths. One doctor testified that patients with seemingly ordinary FLU rapidly developed the most viscous type of pneumonia that had ever been seen and then a struggling for air were developed in the individuals until they suffocated. Other FLU patients died struggling to clear their airways clogged with blood that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth. Doctors were helpless against the powerful agent of this FLU.
The death rate for 15 to 34-years-olds suffering FLU and pneumonia (1918) were 20 times higher than in previous years. It was impossible to escape from the illness. Gauze masks were distributed. Stores could not hold sales, funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns required a signed health certificate to get in and railroads would not accept passengers without them.
Besides, the shortage in health care workers (many were dead) and medical supplies made the situation worse. Bodies pilled up as the massive deaths ensued. Coffins weren't enough, neither morticians, nor gravediggers.
People were confused about what to celebrate. On one hand the World War I ended. On the other, the effects of the disease over them and the public health response to such a great menace was a complete disaster.
The FLU enter everywhere because of the GREAT WAR. It went into the entire globe infecting millions and just as War affected the course of the FLU, the FLU affected the course of the Great War.
FLU killed more men than their own weapons did.