病毒来袭:“一战”动员与美国1918年流感疫情的暴发

Virus Attack:World War I Mobilization and the Outbreak of Influenza in the United States in 1918

1918年,流感疫情在美国暴发并迅速扩散。军营是美国疫情的“重灾区”,也是疫情传播的重要源头。这种情况出现的原因在于急迫的战争动员导致军营异常拥挤,成为流感病毒的“温床”和“孵化器”。作为一个疆域辽阔的移民国家,美国拥有世界上背景最复杂的士兵群体,这加速了流感病毒的演化和泛滥。由于时代的局限,美国对流感疫情的防控犹如盲人摸象,错漏百出。

In 1918,influenza broke out in the United States and spread rapidly.Military camps were the“hardest hit area”and the source of spreading the epidemic to the society.The reason was that the urgent war mobilization created an extremely crowded environment in the military camps,which became a“hotbed”and“incubator”of influenza virus.As a vast and immigrant country,the United States had the most complex soldiers in the world,which also facilitated the evolution and spread of influenza virus.Due to the limitations of the times,the prevention and control of the influenza epidemic in 1918was full of mistakes and omissions.