100 Years Ago, Thousands Of People In Mississippi Died Due To A Strain Of The Flu
By Daniella DiRienzo|Published March 14, 2020
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Daniella DiRienzo
Author
Though Daniella was born in New York and has lived in a couple of other states, Mississippi has been her home for more than 30 years. After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi, Daniella began to hone her writing skills through various internships. In the years since, she’s had the privilege of having her articles appear in several publications, such as the Mississippi-based Parents & Kids Magazine. She’s also had the honor of interviewing actress Sela Ward for The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of the Coronavirus. And while the spread of any new disease is a bit on the scary side, it’s not the first time the world has dealt with such an issue. In fact, we’ve dealt with much worse. For example, the flu pandemic of 1918 killed millions of people around the world and thousands in Mississippi alone. Read on to learn more about this unnerving part of history.
According to the CDC, the 1918 influenza pandemic is the most severe pandemic in recent history, killing 40 to 50 million people worldwide.
Just like the rest of the country, the epidemic began on a Mississippi military base: Payne Field in West Point. According to records, base officials sent a telegraph to the State Board of Health, noting the rapid spread of the disease.
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Trying to contain the spread of the flu, Dr. W.S. Leathers, the executive director of the State Board of Health, ordered the closing of schools and “places of amusement.”
Public meetings and county fairs were also cancelled, but not without protest from residents. The State Board of Health later ordered that funerals be held privately and even banned corpses from being brought into churches.
In response, the US Public Health Service sent 17 doctors and 24 nurses to Mississippi; however, the state still lacked enough medical personnel to keep up with the rapidly spreading disease. Eventually, Dr. Leathers requested that the Red Cross train women to assist in caring for the ill.
On October 4, 1918, things began looking up, as a Jackson newspaper reported the discovery of a vaccine. Unfortunately, the vaccine didn’t reach Mississippi until the middle of November.
When the vaccine did make it to Mississippi, it was sent to Whitworth College in Brookhaven to be tested. The college was chosen since it had remained influenza-free throughout the epidemic.
On October 22, 1918, there were 9,842 new cases of the flu reported in Mississippi. After that date, incidents of the disease began to gradually decline.
