Topic: Possible origin of the Covid19 Pandemic of 2019-2023 and the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic
Virologists and other experts continue to debate the origin of the recent Covid19 Pandemic. It appeared first in China, but whether from a natural jump from wildlife to people or from a careless laboratory is not clear. Part of the issue is whether the virus could have been transmitted from wild animals to people in Wuhan at this time.
A similar debate exists over the origins of the 1918 influenza virus, which may have first appeared in China, but may have first appeared in Kansas.
What I ask you to do is to write an essay that takes seriously the possibility that influenza in 1918 originated in Kansas, and if that was possible, then similar conditions in Wuhan may have made possible the recent Covid19 pandemic. You will need to consider: 1. the conditions in Kansas that could have set the stage for the emergence of a new virus. 2. the similarities and difference between Kansas and Wuhan 3. why the issue of origins mattered for 1918 (Spanish flu) and why it matters today (China virus).
Background:
In 1918, with the United States having just entered the Great War in France, a virulent form of influenza broke out. The global movement of soldiers, laborers, and materials helped spread the deadly virus around the world. At first, in the spring of 1918, influenza appeared to be a weak strain of minor consequence, but in the fall of 1918, after disappearing over the summer, influenza returned in a far more deadly form, and it returned a third time, in the spring of 1919, after the war had ended. All told, the influenza pandemic killed 50 million people worldwide.
In April, 1918, a public health bulletin reported a new and especially virulent form on influenza had broken out in Haskell County, Kansas. For that reason, I ask that you focus your study of Kansas specifically on that location. Epidemiologists know that the 1918 influenza was a bird flu that somehow made its way to people. They also know that human induced environmental changes can alter relations between people and animals in ways that bring about epidemics and pandemics. What environmental changes in Kansas, and in Haskell County especially, may have initiated the 1918 influenza pandemic? What similar changes may have occurred in Wuhan? Why does this matter?
I have assembled a package of materials that are to be the basis for your study. You are encouraged to seek out more information, but you must make use of all the materials in the package.
Your essay should address these subjects:
The changing environmental conditions in Kansas and Haskell County between the 1880s and 1918 that may have brought humans into contact with a deadly virus in western Kansas.
The changing economic and social conditions associated with the war, but also with the U.S. and global economies regardless of the war (industrialization, steamship travel, colonialism, and so forth) that would have enabled a virus that emerged in western Kansas to spread around the world.
Recent changes in Wuhan that may have brought humans into contact with a deadly virus.
the global connections that would have spread a virus first appearing in Wuhan to places around the world.
Explain why this matters.
As mentioned above, you must make use of all materials in the package. You may use other materials that you can find online, but if you do use other sources, you must list them in a bibliography. Please mention sources within your text, either with endnotes or in parentheses. Historians generally use Turabian/Chicago style, but for this assignment you may use any style (style guides are available online) to indicate your sources of information.