Spanish Influenza in Japanese Armed Forces, 1918-1920

Overview

Journal Emerg Infect Dis

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2007 Jun 8

PMID 17553274

Citations 12

Authors

Akihiko Kawana

Go Naka

Yuji Fujikura

Yasuyuki Kato

Yasutaka Mizuno

Tatsuya Kondo

Koichiro Kudo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

With the recent outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1), the risk for the next influenza pandemic has increased. For effective countermeasures against the next pandemic, investigation of past pandemics is necessary. We selected cases diagnosed as influenza from medical records and hospitalization registries of Japanese army hospitals during 1918-1920, the Spanish influenza era, and investigated clinical features and circumstances of outbreaks. Admission lists showed a sudden increase in the number of inpatients with influenza in November 1918 and showed the effect of the first wave of this pandemic in Tokyo. The death rate was high (6%-8%) even though patients were otherwise healthy male adults.

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