Little did one Albert Gitchell know when he reported to sick bay on March 4, 1918 at Fort Riley, Kansas, that a plague that would kill more people worldwide in just 24 days than AIDS has killed in 24 years would be traced back to him. The transmission was facillitated by rapid troop movements to all sorts of places and close quarters. After all, It was WORLD WAR 1. The odd thing was that more young and viril died than old people. In three days, 100 were sick at Fort Riley. By Aug., people were sick and dying in places like Queens, New York, Brest Brittany, France, Sierra Leone, and....Boston. There was no known cure other than isolation. Still, when it went to sleep, like the Seven Year Locusts do, roughly, one third of the World's population had died from it. It is considered to be the World's worst medical holocaust in history.
Why did the young and healthy succomb so easily? We need to look at the immune system. Cytokenes are cell signalling protein molecules that send an SOS to immune cell headquarters and causes a great release of immune ammunition such as T-cells and Macrophages to wage war against infection. With such a conflaguration of Cytocenes, they get confused and start killing each other. The young have very healthy immune systems....to their chagrin...back then.
So, we should be more sober and thankful to the One who holds the keys.
