"Influenza 1918": On PBS, American Experience

[appalachiablue]

Promo.

*WATCH* Full Program (56 mins), or online at PBS, (2009).

CDC, 1918 Pandemic, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm

[BigmanPigman]

1. I'll watch these tonight!

I know Phila was hit hard after they had a WWI Liberty Parade (outside in the streets) and with a couple of weeks the sick and the dead were piling up since there was no one or no place to take so many on short notice.

[appalachiablue]

2. That parade was a real tragedy. I haven't seen this program, there's

always more to learn about the 1918 Influenza, awful.

[BigmanPigman]

3. My mother did the family genealogy

genealogy and I am surprised that none of my relatives (tons in Phila at the time) died of it.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Neither did mine, at least on my father's side. There were 10 children on his mother's side

ranging from 15 to 28 during that time and 8 children from his father's side ranging from 20 to 32 and none of them died from the Spanish Flu. The parents (my great grandparents) survived as well. I am pretty amazed that none of them died from it since they were all in their prime, and would have been the most vulnerable group. Almost all of them lived into their 80's and 90's.

I don't know much about my mother's side of the family since she died in childbirth when I was about 2 1/2 and her sisters haven't really told me much about the family history. They all lived to be quite old, except for the ones who died of unnatural causes.

[BigmanPigman]

5. It makes you wonder how genetics fits in with

resistance to illnesses. Perhaps some people are genetically immune. Some people are genetically predisposed to get a certain disease, so could the op posit be true?

[smirkymonkey]

6. Not sure. My family seems to be pretty resistant to most illness. They don't get cancer until the

later years and even when they do they survive it. The one thing they do get is cardiovascular disease, but they manage to live to a ripe old age with that as well.

And it's not like they took great care of themselves either. I have great uncles who drank like fish and smoked like chimneys who lived until they were in their 80's. None of them exercised or ate anything but the typical Italian diet. I have no idea why they lived as long as they did.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Same with my family...

it must be the Phila water and eating hoagies that is doing the trick.

[smirkymonkey]

8. There was a study done years ago, I think it was in Pennsylvania, where they studied

Italian-American communities and why they had such longevity. They determined that it was because they had such close family ties and felt such security in their family connections.

They also measured the longevity of the children who left the community and found that their death rates eventually mirrored those of the general society. Bottom line, they surmised that it was the love and security of the deep family bonds that kept them so healthy when they were living in a warm, secure environment. Once they left that safe nest, the stress of living in an alienated society took a toll on them.

[BigmanPigman]

9. Ha! They apparently never met MY family.

Stunod /stupid and Pazzo/ crazy were the words my grandmother used to describe her siblings.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Dr Fauci is on this show at 17:24.

[lunasun]

11. +Rec good doc

My friend sent me this and watched it earlier because I didn’t want to go to the Saturday gym . They sent a letter saying being cleaned yeah but nah it was a good excuse to be lazy
I was going to post but checked and saw it is already here Big Rec

[SiliconValley_Dem]

12. Will watch tonight