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Cells of 1918 influenza, left, and COVID-19 disease cells. Credit: Center for Disease Control.<\/p>\n
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The streets were empty, but the hospitals were full.<\/span><\/p>\n Americans were weathering a worldwide pandemic at home and a world war abroad. Theaters, schools and churches were all closed as world governments called for a state of emergency. Anyone who dared go into public was recommended to wear a face mask, if they could find one.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1918, the country was gripped by a virus – the Spanish influenza.\u00a0<\/span>For many, it feels like the same story 100 years later with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the seemingly similar circumstances, the two pandemics are different illnesses being battled in different eras.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis virus is not SARS, it\u2019s not MERS, and it\u2019s not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics,\u201d <\/span>WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained in a <\/span>March 3<\/span><\/a> press conference.<\/span><\/p>\n A century after the 1918 pandemic there are still misconceptions about the disease, including its name.<\/span><\/p>\n Experts no longer believe the Spanish flu\u00a0originated in Spain. <\/span>The source of the name came from neutral Spain being able to report on the disease without wartime censorship.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe 1918 flu pandemic actually most likely originated on a pig farm in Kansas,\u201d said Sharon DeWitte,\u00a0<\/span>a bioarchaeologist and professor at the University of South Carolina. She focuses on historical health and disease.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The pandemic began as World War I ended in 1918 and \u00a0infected a third of the world\u2019s population within two years. The influenza killed an estimated 50 million people.<\/span><\/p>\n COVID-19 was discovered in an animal market in Wuhan, China. \u00a0The name originates from its discovery in late 2019. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization classified the outbreak as a pandemic. <\/span>WHO <\/span><\/a>explained that COVID-19 is the newest strain of coronavirus, a type of virus known to cause respiratory infections. It was believed to begin in bats.<\/span><\/p>\n Ghebreyesus said both diseases <\/span>cause respiratory disease and spread the same way.<\/span><\/p>\n While both diseases are deadly, influenza affected mostly healthy adults, but had a higher mortality rate in children and the elderly. The fatality rate hovered around 2%.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt had a really interesting and alarming mortality profile,\u201d Dewiite said.\u00a0 \u201cThe 1918 flu produced a W-shaped mortality profile: high numbers of deaths of infants and the elderly and a peak of deaths for young adults.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Comparatively, COVID-19 has been reported to more greatly affect older adults. According to <\/span>New York City Health<\/span><\/a>, more than 70% of deaths have been in adults above the age of 65. Unlike with many diseases, children been mostly unaffected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n