The forgotten pandemic! 1889-1890 Russian 'Flu'

It seems that history may sometimes repeat itself and if we want to understand the nature of a disease such as Covid-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 then we may want to look back at the history of infectious diseases and specifically the 1889-1890 Pandemic which is commonly known as the Russian Flu.

However it is likely caused by a Human Coronavirus, namely OC43, which is a member of the species Betacoronavirus 1 and infects humans and cattle

en.m.wikipedia.org...



Furthermore the Russian Flu shares a lot of common characteristics with COVID-19 and the article below describes it very well.

sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

"Clinical evidence that the pandemic from 1889 to 1891 commonly called the Russian flu might have been an earlier coronavirus pandemic"

Summary

'Contemporary medical reports from Britain and Germany on patients suffering from a pandemic infection between 1889 and 1891, which was historically referred to as the Russian flu, share a number of characteristics with COVID-19. Most notable are aspects of multisystem affections comprising respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms including loss of taste and smell perception; a protracted recovery resembling long covid and pathology observations of thrombosis in multiple organs, inflammation and rheumatic affections. As in COVID-19 and unlike in influenza, mortality was seen in elderly subjects while children were only weakly affected. Contemporary reports noted trans-species infection between pet animals or horses and humans, which would concur with a cross-infection by a broad host range bovine coronavirus dated by molecular clock arguments to an about 1890 cross-species infection event'




In addition the infection fatality rate of COVID-19 and that of the Spanish Flu are very similar and could be the same. By infection fatality rate we mean the ratio of the total number of deaths to the total number of people who have been infected.

The infection fatality rate of COVID-19 has been estimated by one of the top epidemiologists and researchers in the world, namely Professor John Ioannidis from Stanford, and his paper is a reference frame for scientists as its one of the most cited papers in the world if not the most cited. It has also been accepted by the WHO

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 99 (‎1)‎, 19 - 33F. World Health Organization. dx.doi.org...
Journal


Here is the paper
apps.who.int...


Here is an updated version
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...


Result: The IFR of COVID-19 is about 0.15%



From the various sources and the data we have OC43 infected between 300 million to 900 million people and killed about 1 million people. The IFR hence ranges from 0.11% to 0.33%

en.m.wikipedia.org...



Summary & discussion

Had we looked in the history of pandemics and applied logic and common sense we could have made much better decisions and responses to COVID-19 by making the right comparisons. In reality COVID-19 is a mild disease for most of us with a very small infection fatality rate of 0.15% and a disease that affects the elderly and the clinically vulnerable in the vast majority of cases just as in the case of OC43 back in 1889-1890

The infection fatality rate and nature of this disease as well as the history of infectious diseases don't justify the long term and very harmful lockdowns, the closure of the schools and universities, the draconian measures, the mass and mandatory vaccinations, the closure of businesses, the fear, the hysteria and paranoia that swept the world, and the entire response to Covid given the historical precedence of the probable Coronavirus Pandemic of 1889-1890

Lockdowns stopped, mass and mandatory vaccinations were abandoned, students returned to schools and universities, life resumed, a bit of hysteria and paranoia is still with us, but the response to COVID-19 was not grounded on science, facts, logic, common sense, and history of the infectious diseases.

journals.asm.org...

"Complete Genomic Sequence of Human Coronavirus OC43: Molecular Clock Analysis Suggests a Relatively Recent Zoonotic Coronavirus Transmission Event"


Emphasis must be given on the relatively recent zoonotic Coronavirus transmission event. In a few words a virus that jumped from animals to humans back in the end of the 19th century as it is suggested in the paper.

If it's OC43 or another member of the Coronavirus family then it's likely to have caused a Pandemic given the lack of immunity to the new (Novel Virus)

Adding a little more on this.

In a few words we already have had a similar Coronavirus Pandemic which occured back in 1889-1890 and instead of learning the lessons and responding adequately to the new pandemic we chose to lockdown entire young and healthy populations which were never at any measurable risk of getting sick and die from Covid.

Instead of science and epidemiology we have had doom n gloom scenarios, appeals to emotions, and the propagation of fear, pananoia, and hysteria.

HCov-OC43 had similar characteristics, usually causing disease to the clinically vulnerable and elderly populations just as SARS-CoV-2 did. Same patterns and even very similar infection fatality rates.

But no. Thet played the end of the world scenario which failed magnificently together with the narrative that has been taken apart and dismantled.

a reply to: Asmodeus3

Lockdowns stopped, mass and mandatory vaccinations were abandoned, students returned to schools and universities, life resumed, a bit of hysteria and paranoia is still with us, but the response to COVID-19 was not grounded on science, facts, logic, common sense, and history of the infectious diseases.

Had they operated under what should have been SOP for such a disease, they couldn't have terrified everyone to hiding in their houses for a year, shutting down their businesses, and dividing themselves against anyone who wasn't as scared as they were.

a reply to: MaxxAction

It's when political ideology and dogma are blended together with science and medicine.

The Coronavirus Pandemic of 1889-1890 provided pretty much all possible information of what was coming and what we should have expected. The evidence was there and we could have made the bes to predictions and policies by just looking how the other Pandemic evolved.

But instead, politics and ideologies triumphed over science, medicine, and mostly over common sense.

This should never happen again.

Activists and pressure groups should never be able to influence public policies again. The same is true for some career scientists who did see a golden opportunity to further their careers.

All those should be brought to justice and prosecuted and judges should not be lenient at all.

Interesting post. Again, it really just shows that if we basically acted normal....the virus would have ebbed away much sooner based on nearly every emergence of a new virus. A virus can't survive if just kills all of its hosts. By this point we have and are influencing the mutation of the virus with interference.

If we keep injecting people with outdated antigens...the virus has a much higher chance of doing very weird things that it wouldnt normally do.

Give fauci an injection......the lethal injection.

originally posted by: thethinkingman
Interesting post. Again, it really just shows that if we basically acted normal....the virus would have ebbed away much sooner based on nearly every emergence of a new virus. A virus can't survive if just kills all of its hosts. By this point we have and are influencing the mutation of the virus with interference.

If we keep injecting people with outdated antigens...the virus has a much higher chance of doing very weird things that it wouldnt normally do.

Give fauci an injection......the lethal injection.

The Pandemic was likely caused by OC43 which is another Coronavirus that now causes common colds!

Instead of being taught about the history of infectious diseases, given there was a historical precedence and that another Coronavirus caused another Pandemic not that long ago, then we would have come to the conclusion that Coronaviruses have very small infection fatality rates, they affect mostly the elderly and the clinically vulnerable, and as time passes they adapt and we adapt to their presence and we love in peace or relative peace with each other.

None of the responses and measures taken against Covid-19 can be justified on medical and scientific grounds.

The infection fatality rate of SARS-CoV-2 is around 0.15%.

The infection fatality rate of HCov-OC43 was around 0.11% to 0.33%

I have given the calculations above.

You won't see this specific pandemic discussed on mainstream media. Probably they don't know it and even if they did them it wouldn't fit their narratives.
I doubt that many doctors and physicians are aware of it either.

A great read and opening post but I think the influenza pandemic of 1918, which eventually brought an early end to the Great War has also formed the response to covid and caused the frenzy with lockdowns and countries shutting down and closing their boarders.
The Guardian.

Having earned part of my tuition by working in a hospital microbiology lab, I found microbiology fascinating, but this particular lecture riveted me like no other because it shook my worldview. This was the lecture about influenza, including a discussion of the pandemic of 1918-1919. This worldwide disease outbreak had unparalleled deadliness, claiming more lives than did any of the plague pandemics, yet I had never even heard about it.

It sounded like science fiction rather than science fact to hear that between 50 and 100 million people (3-6% of the world's population at the time) perished in less than 18 months' time -- the greatest number of human deaths due to infectious disease ever recorded.

The 1918 influenza virus's style of killing was unlike that seen for most other influenza strains known. Airborne, it was highly infectious, causing illness in 50 percent or more of those exposed to it, and its morbidity and mortality rates were peculiar, too: it had an estimated mortality rate of 20 percent, whereas other strains of influenza normally kill just 0.1 percent of their victims. Its patterns of lethality were unique, preferentially killing healthy young people between 20 and 40 years of age whilst leaving older people relatively unharmed. Additionally, it was an especially efficient killer of pregnant women, whose mortality rate ranged between 23 and 71 percent.

a reply to: Kurokage

They have made several mistakes and the major one was to respond to COVID-19 as if it was the Spanish Flu. However there is historical precedence and competent scientists and infectious diseases experts as well as epidemiologists could have pointed out that another Coronavirus, namely OC43, caused a Pandemic back in 1889-1890 and had similar characteristics as well as a very similar IFR.

Great thread. It's ridiculous that people are trying to compare the covid "pandemic" to the Spanish Flu. The two aren't in the same galaxy. I just created a thread to show how the death counts were fabricated:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The covid "pandemic" isn't even a pandemic by definition.

HCov-OC43 in our days causes common colds in most cases. It looks like SARS-CoV-2 will follow the same path and this is something very expectable.

originally posted by: v1rtu0s0
Great thread. It's ridiculous that people are trying to compare the covid "pandemic" to the Spanish Flu. The two aren't in the same galaxy. I just created a thread to show how the death counts were fabricated:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The covid "pandemic" isn't even a pandemic by definition.

Yes I have realised that there are some attempts to portray COVID-19 as if it is the Spanish Flu.

These two diseases are fundamentally different and I don't know on what basis these attempts are made. It's probably out of desperation and it was likely to see such tactics back at the beginning of the pandemic in order to justify lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations. But we are in the third year since the pandemic started and it's just absurd to disregard enormous amounts of facts and evidence so to promote some political ideology and rhetoric because it didn't turn out to be the way you expected it to be.

The only good and reasonable comparison one can make is between the two pandemics caused by the two coronaviruses, HCov-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2.

Have you seen any discussion in the media or in Universities?! Not really. It won't be addressed as it exposes some academics and academia quite a lot as well as exposing the politics that are blended in academia and research.

ec.europa.eu...

Great article!


'A mysterious flu-like illness that caused loss of taste and smell in the late 19th century was probably caused by a coronavirus that still causes the ‘common cold’ in people today, according to Professor Marc Van Ranst at KU Leuven in Belgium, an expert on coronaviruses'


Professor Marc Van Ranst discusses about the human coronavirus OC43 and during the interview.

Most importantly a discussion is made of whether the other human coronaviruses have caused pandemics or regional epidemics one way or another. It's very likely they did and that's why the response to COVID-19 was just shambles.

Instead of looking back in history of pandemics and epidemics the world reacted as if it was going to end. That's what happens when incompetence and politics are blended in science and medicine.

pulmonarychronicles.com...

Human coronavirus OC43 simulating COVID-19 pneumonia



ABSTRACT

Human coronavirus OC43 is a common cause of respiratory illness, especially in immunocompromised persons, including children and elderly adults. We report a 42-year-old immunocompetent woman with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure and positive results on OC43 coronavirus testing. This case indicates the need to consider other viral pathogens during this COVID-19 pandemic.



INTRODUCTION

Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) causes respiratory tract infections, including bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia in children, immunosuppressed patients, and elderly adults, especially those in long term care facilities. In this COVID-19 pandemic, the clinical presentation of OC43 corona infection may be difficult to differentiate from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

originally posted by: v1rtu0s0

The covid "pandemic" isn't even a pandemic by definition.

How on Earth do you conclude that? It was a text book example of a pandemic!

originally posted by: AndyMayhew

originally posted by: v1rtu0s0

The covid "pandemic" isn't even a pandemic by definition.

How on Earth do you conclude that? It was a text book example of a pandemic!

You may want to see the opening page and the similarities between a previous coronavirus pandemic and the recent one. The one in 1889-1890 was likely caused by OC43 and had very similar infection fatality rate and affected the same age risk groups. The symptoms were very similar of not identical to Covid-19