Flu Pandemic 1889-1890

This pandemic, occurring in 1889-1890, has accumulated many names over the years. It is often referred to as the Russian Flu, for the reason that it began in St Petersburg, Russia.

This is considered to have been a strain of the Influenza virus, which you can find more about here.

This pandemic was astonishing in the speed that it moved around the globe. Unlike in modern times, where people can travel almost anywhere on earth at a very rapid pace using aeroplanes, people in the time of this pandemic would never have travelled on planes, and the only method of overseas travel (for most people) was by boat. Nevertheless, this strain of the influenza virus managed to travel all throughout Europe and the Americas in around 4 months. When St Petersburg, the assumed origin of the strain, was experiencing its peak of the pandemic in December of 1889, the virus was already heavily prevalent in Europe and the North Americas.

This pandemic killed over a million people across the globe, dying of a severe respiratory illness. When put in perspective of the global population at the time, which was around 1.5 billion, this is a huge portion. That means 1 in 1500 people, worldwide, died of this strain of influenza. To put that against the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-2020, on 4th June the deaths were around 380,000 against 7.8 billion, or around 1 person in 20,526. The death rates will have risen from this date, but nevertheless, it shows the sheer death rate of a reasonably modern pandemic.