The Infamous "Flu"...with a little Bubonic Plague.

I just never seem to get better. A week ago I had "The Black Plague" (actually, it was Shingles)... this week I have Influenza. As a result, I've completely given up any hope of being a total optimist(which I wasn't ever all that good at anyway because I was always too skeptical.) Instead, I figure that I should continue down the much more effective role of sarcastic optimist. That way my disappointment will hopefully be less disappointing...but who knows? Anyway, my week has been terrible. I hereby state that if you want to be freezing and burning to the extreme at the exact same time, you should get the "Flu". If it doesn't kill you first, you'll find out just how miserable that experience is. So, if any of you start feeling really bad about this time, you might want to go see your local doctor and maybe book a spot for yourself at the morgue...O.K., it isn't that bad. Not that any of you at school should worry about catching it at school. I knew it was possible that I would get it because my brother had it, so I distanced myself and warned most everybody. See, I DO care! Anyway, since I've got nothing better to lecture you on, I might as well "knowledgify" you all on Influenza.

O.K., so the flu dates back two thousand four hundred years, maybe even longer, in Italy. The Italians, known at that time as the Hippocrates, were the first ever to recognize the symptoms of the "Flu", and named it Influence, which has since changed to Influenza. However, the first proven epidemic of the flu was in the 1500's. It started from Asia and came from there to Europe. The next major flu epidemic was dated in the late 1800's and titled as the "Russian Flu". Unfortuanely, next to nothing is known about it, other than approximately 1 million people died. This lack of information was likely due to a lack of organization in Russia at the time.

The next "Flu" epidemic was the infamous "Spanish Flu", which was by far the most deadly of all the flu epidemics. It was dated at 1918-1919, right smack dab at the end of World War I. The close quarters of the soldiers and the intercontinental transporting of troops provided a perfect spreading opportunity for the virus. It killed approximately 25 million people in its first 25 weeks and overall killed 50-100 million more people. This was a very strange flu epidemic. Not only did it have an unusually high death toll among its victims, but it seemed to spread exceedingly fast and was more contagious than other strains. It also had hemorrhagic properties. This version of Influenza hit almost every part of the globe and equaled the death toll of the Bubonic Plague. Although Influenza didn't kill 90% of everyone who got it like the Bubonic Plague did, Influenza had a much longer period where a person did not yet shown symptoms but was already contagious. This allowed for a all together larger number of people to get it over a much longer time. The Bubonic Plague however, killed its victims so fast that as soon as it reached Europe's boundaries, there weren't enough masses of people to keep it alive.

Anyway, I hope you learned something about Influenza and didn't fall asleep! So, get a flu shot before the flu spreads to you. At least wash your hands a lot.