With each day, fear of the swine flu epidemic continues to surround campus. This year’s battle with H1N1 is not, however, the first that Cornell has encountered. In 1918 the Spanish flu, a similar strain of the H1N1 influenza virus, made its way through Tompkins County, claiming the lives of students, faculty members and citizens of Ithaca.

“The flu of ’18 was unique in that it had an effect on young adults, a fact that put students at risk,” said Barbara Hammond, a medical technologist who researched the impact of influenza on the Tompkins county population. “The infirmary was so overrun with cases that the University opened Cascadilla Hall as an emergency hospital.”

According to a report written by Hammond while she worked in the microbiology lab in Stockton Hall, there were approximately 900 cases of the flu among the students of Cornell University and Sage College and 37 deaths among students during the primary months of infection in October and November of 1918. In addition to the Cornell students, there were approximately 1,300 cases and 40 deaths in the city of Ithaca’s hospitals.

“At that time, there was an outbreak with no containment. There were no antiviral medications, no antibiotics and no ventilators. Under Prohibition, which came to Tompkins County in early 1918, doctors were not allowed to treat fevers with alcohol rubs,” Hammond said. “The epidemic had to run its course naturally.”

The Spanish flu, which began to spread throughout Europe, Asia and North America in early 1918, was a highly contagious and lethal form of the H1N1 influenza type-A virus. According to a 2006 report from the National Institute of Health, approximately 500 million people, a third of the world’s population at the time, were infected with the H1N1 flu strain between 1918 and 1920 in every region of the world.

Of those infected, between 30 and 50 million died. Many of those who died were soldiers and diplomats associated with the First World War, including Willard Straight ’01 for whom Willard Straight Hall is named.

A marked difference in the 1918 strain was the high mortality rate among younger adults. During the outbreak, approximately half of the deceased were individuals between 20 and 40, with only about 1 percent of the deaths attributed to those over the age of 65. Although a direct cause for this spike has yet to be determined, likely theories include the overstimulation of the immune system in otherwise healthy individuals and the presence of flu antibodies from an 1890 outbreak in older individuals.

Despite their strong relationship, there are significant differences between the current novel H1N1 outbreak and the pandemic of 1918.

“The current strain of H1N1 does not have the same genetic makeup as the 1918 flu and is not causing the same scope of virulence,” Tom Skinner, a spokesperson for the CDC, said. “We have been keeping an eye out for genetic mutations and we are not seeing those changes.”

Advancements in medical technology Advancements in medical technology also allow for a greater degree of containment and damage reduction. Antiviral drugs, like Tamiflu and Relenza, prevent the influenza viruses from spreading or further mutating within the body, limiting the impact of the infection. Additionally, improved systems for monitoring essential functions and a greater variety of medications make some of the more severe cases more manageable.

As the typical annual flu season approaches, it is impossible to know the degree of mutation the current strain of H1N1 will undergo, but we can be reassured that Cornell has survived similar epidemics in the past.