What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 (VIDEO)

It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the globe and wiped out an estimated 20 million to 50 million of them. (source)

And here we are, potentially on the cusp of another influenza pandemic. H3N2, or the “Australian flu” is making the rounds this year and has spread to the UK, among other countries. This map from the UK Sun shows the spread – and the potential for a pandemic.

This flu is particularly deadly. 745 people died from it in Australia in late 2017.

The NHS says that Australian flu symptoms have rapid onset:

• a sudden fever – a temperature of 38C or above


• aching body


• feeling tired or exhausted


• dry, chesty cough


• a sore throat


• a headache


• difficulty sleeping


• loss of appetite


• diarrhea or tummy pain


• nausea and being sick

The symptoms are similar for children, but they can also have ear pain and lethargy.

As well, the “Japanese Flu” and the “French Flu” are two other strains that are running rampant, although their symptoms aren’t as severe as those of the Aussie H3N2. The Japanese Flu, also known as the Yamagata flu, is less serious but far more contagious. The French Flu is H1N1 and has been deadly for some sufferers.

The United States is having a bad year also.

Here in the US, an epidemic is rapidly becoming deadly and overwhelming hospitals.

18 people have died in Dallas, Texas from the flu and 27 have died in California. Hospital waiting rooms are jammed with flu victims, the doctors are running out of medication, ambulance services are strained and even IV bags are in short supply. Influenza is widespread in 36 states, according to the CDC.

Here’s the CDC’s map of the flu’s spread throughout the US as of the last day of 2017.

80% of the cases in the US are H3N2, although our media doesn’t seem to be calling it the Australian flu, like the British media is. As usual, although this year’s flu vaccination does NOT protect against the H3N2 strain, “experts” are still urging everyone to get a shot anyone. (Despite the fact that some numbers say it is only 10% effective.)

We can learn a lot from history.

Whether or not the Australian flu will be the “big one” that wipes out a large percentage of the population like the Spanish flu of 1918 remains to be seen. But there is a great deal we can learn from the history of pandemics that can help us to be better prepared. That outbreak killed more Americans last century than all the wars combined. A mass grave was recently uncovered in Pennsylvania that contained the remains of impoverished victims.

The Spanish flu was the H1N1 virus and was so rapidly virulent that it could kill victims in a day.

This excellent documentary is an in-depth look at the influenza outbreak that took place 100 years ago.

What can you do about the flu?

There’s no way to predict whether this will be our generation’s “Flu of 1918” or not, but the best plan is to be prepared. Pandemics have a way of growing quietly then shocking people with their virulence. It’s definitely something to watch.

Social isolation and handwashing are the best preventatives against the flu. Obviously, social isolation is not possible for adults who have to go to work and children who must attend school.

The following resources can help you to potentially prevent contracting the flu or to be better prepared, especially in the event that this year’s strain turns into a pandemic.

• The Flu Survival Guide: Kitchen Remedies and Natural Strategies to Battle the Bug


• Are You Prepped for a Pandemic?


• Forget the Flu Shot: Hand-washing and Elderberry Extract Are the Best Defenses Against the Flu


• How to Reduce Your Risk of Catching the Flu This Year


• Elderberry Extract for the Flu: Nature’s “Tamiflu”


• Prepping for a Pandemic: Life-Saving Supplies, Skills, and Plans for Surviving an Outbreak 

Thank you to Angela for the link to the video!

The post What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 (VIDEO) appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Martin Armstrong Warns "The Sun Is Cooling Faster Than Anyone Suspected"

Authored by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

The danger from the Global Warming crowd is that they are misleading the entire world and preventing us from what is dangerously unfolding that sparks the rapid decline in civilization – GLOBAL COOLING.

I previously warned that this is not my opinion, but simply our computer. If it were really conscious it would be running to store to buy heating pads. This year will be much colder for Europe than the last three. It will also be cold in the USA. We are in a global cooling period and all the data we have in our computer system warns that the earth is turning cold not warm.

This cooling is very serious. This decline in the energy output of the sun will manifest in a commodity boom in agriculture as shortages send food prices higher. We will see famine begin to rise as crops fail and that will inspire disease and plagues. We will see the first peak in agricultural prices come probably around 2024 after the lows are established on this cycle. We have been warning that this rise would begin AFTER 2017.

Previously, I have reported that NASA confirmed we are going into a cooling period – not warming. They have put out a forecast of declining sunspot activity. Now NASA has come out confirming what our computer has been forecasting. They have reported that as the sun is experiencing a rapid decline in sunspots, it is also dimming in brightness or energy output. NASA’s Spaceweather station has recorded during 2017, 96 days (27%) of observing the sun have been completely absent of sunspots.

I have also previously warned that there is a 300-year cycle to this entire phenomenon. This cycle has aligned with the major turning point of the Economic Confidence Model 2015.75. During 2015, there were ZERO days observed without sunspots. The following year, 2016, came in with 9% of the days recorded without any sunspot activity. This jump to 27% here in 2017 is a substantial jump from 2015 that we cannot afford to ignore.

NASA launched a new sensor which is the International Space Station named TSIS-1. Its mission is to actually measure the dimming of the sun’s irradiance. It will replace the aging SORCE spacecraft and NASA has confirmed our computer forecast that the number of sunspots in this cycle will fall rapidly as it plunges into a date with its 11-year cycle minimum.

There was a sharp climate drop in 1916 creating a spike low in temperature. This 1916 spike low in our climate coincided with war. This was then combined with terrible influenza or flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, which was the deadliest in modern history. This pandemic infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide or about one-third of the entire planet’s population. It killed an estimated 20 to 50 million victims.

This pandemic began in the spring of 1917 and some sources point to troops in France as being the center of the pandemic. A significant precursor virus, harbored in birds, mutated to pigs that were kept near the front. Others place it with troops in Austria. Nevertheless, influenza ran from mid-1917, became noticeable by January 1918, and continued into December 1920. The unusually deadly influenza pandemic shortened the overall life expectancy by 12 years. This influenza killed the strong rather than the weak since it thrived on the overreaction of the body’s immune system. The strong immune reactions of young adults fed the virus, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in fewer deaths, which was very unusual.

Across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the sun’s output is declining. I personally hate cold. So this is not a forecast I want to see happen. Nevertheless, our computer has correlated this cooling trend with disease and it appears that famine also plays a role in this entire event. Additionally, a simple correlation with the energy output of the sun reveals that all major earthquakes occurred during strong solar minimums, which we are head smack into.

Consequently, there were 7 major earthquakes of 8.0 magnitude moving into the turning point in 2008-2010. Kiril Islands (Russia) twice- 8.1 (November 2006 & January 2007), Peru-8.0 (August 2007), Sumatra-8.5 (September 2007), Sichuan earthquake-8.0 (May 2008), Samoa-8.1 (September 2009), Maule (Chile)-8.8 (February 2010).

There are ways you can prepare. But do prepare. Do not wait until the very last second.