1918 New Zealand Influenza

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The 1918 influenza Pandemic By Faith Davis Within two short months, New Zealand lost about half as many people as it had in the whole First World War due to the 1918 influenza epidemic. No other event in New Zealand’s history has killed so many New Zealanders in such a short amount of time. The causes of the event are still unclear but the mass movement; war conditions and most likely American Troops began the spread of the virus. It is also unclear in how the pandemic made it way to our shores but it was said for years that the royal mail liner the Niagara was to blame, yet this claim was later to be proven wrong. The cause of the pandemic was rather significant as Auckland was struck harder than anywhere else in New Zealand; as were the Maori over Europeans and death did not occur evenly throughout the country. The influenza swept its way across the globe in two waves, the first being ‘mild’ yet the second was dangerous and caused much impact upon the world and New Zealand. In the aftermath of the influenza there were major reforms in the health system of New Zealand. The government recognized the need to improve public health and its management therefore; the 1920 public health act was put in place. American troops trigged and spread the influenza pandemic to New Zealand and to the rest of the globe. On the 4th of March 1918 in an American Midwest war camp, a cook was reported sick with the influenza unlike any kind. 56,000 men were at the camp at this time, preparing for war. Within a fortnight, over a thousand more fell ill with the influenza and joined the cook in hospital. With the great movement of people that was occurring, similar outbreaks began to arise within camps in Georgia and South Carolina. American soldiers soon spread the flu across the Atlantic to France. Mass movement of people and war conditions were also to blame for the influenza

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