logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2020
45m 18s

57 - The Second Wave

Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, FACP
About this episode

In August of 1918, a horrific second wave of the Spanish Flu crashed across the world. In this episode, the third of a four-part series exploring hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19, I’ll explore this single moment in time, through the mysterious origins of the Spanish Flu and historiographical controversies, scientific missions to mass burial sites in remote Alaskan villages, the ill-fated journey of the HMS Mantua, debates about how to count victims of a pandemic, and the mystery behind Pfeiffer’s bacillus. Plus a new #AdamAnswers about that annoying yellow on blue powerpoint template so common in the medical field!

 

Sources:

  1. Viboud, C. et al. Age- and Sex-Specific Mortality Associated With the 1918–1919 Influenza Pandemic in Kentucky. J Infect Dis 207, 721–729 (2013).
  2. Oxford, J. S. & Gill, D. A possible European origin of the Spanish influenza and the first attempts to reduce mortality to combat superinfecting bacteria: an opinion from a virologist and a military historian. Hum Vacc Immunother 15, 2009–2012 (2019).
  3. Epps, H. L. V. Influenza: exposing the true killer. J Exp Medicine 203, 803–803 (2006).
  4. Patterson, S. W. & Williams, F. E. PFEIFFER’S BACILLUS AND INFLUENZA. Lancet 200, 806–807 (1922).
  5. Taubenberger, J. K. & Morens, D. M. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Its Legacy. Csh Perspect Med a038695 (2019) doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a038695.
  6. Trilla, A., Trilla, G. & Daer, C. The 1918 “Spanish Flu” in Spain. Clin Infect Dis 47, 668–673 (2008).
  7. Taubenberger, J. K. The origin and virulence of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza virus. P Am Philos Soc 150, 86–112 (2006).
  8. Heinz, E. The return of Pfeiffer’s bacillus: Rising incidence of ampicillin resistance in Haemophilus influenzae. Microb Genom 4, (2018).
  9. Barry, J. M. The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications. J Transl Med 2, 3 (2004).
  10. Johnson, N. P. A. S. & Mueller, J. Updating the Accounts: Global Mortality of the 1918-1920 “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic. B Hist Med 76, 105–115 (2002).

 

  1. Tomkins SM, Colonial Administration in British Africa during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918-19. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines. Vol. 28, No. 1 (1994), pp. 60-83 (24 pages)
  2. Qiang Liu et al, The cytokine storm of severe influenza and development of immunomodulatory therapy. Cell Mol Immunol. 2016 Jan; 13(1): 3–10.
  3. Spreeuwenberg et al. Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.Am J Epidemiol . 2018 Dec 1;187(12):2561-2567. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy191.
  4. R. F. J. Pfeiffer: Vorläufige Mittheilungen über den Erreger der Influenza. Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift, Berlin, 1892, 18: 28. Die Aetiologie der Influenza. Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten, 1893, 13: 357-386.
Up next
Sep 2023
74 - R2D2
What does it mean when a computer can make better medical decisions than a human? The progress in large language models, and in particular the popularity of ChatGPT, has brought these questions to the forefront in 2023, but we’ve been discussing this for over 50 years. In this ep ... Show More
33m 22s
Jun 2023
73 - Seadragon
What happens when a patient far from surgical care – say, at the bottom of the Pacific ocean on a submarine, or at a research base in Antarctica in the middle of the winter – develops a surgical abdomen? This dilemma was the impetus to build the first truly effective clinical dec ... Show More
27m 57s
Mar 2023
72 - Problems
American doctors spend the majority of their time during the day on the computer, either writing or reading notes about their patients; only a small fraction is spent with the human beings in their care. Technology itself – especially the electronic medical record – has often bee ... Show More
52m 3s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 26
A Ridiculous History of Brain Science, with Jorge Cham
Today, we all generally understand that the brain is responsible for what we call personality and thought -- yet this wasn't always the case. Once humans figured out the brain was more than a weird lump in the skull, it took centuries of trial and error, along with quack science, ... Show More
56m 6s
Nov 2024
Case #21: Scott
In peak health, Scott's life took a drastic turn when a rare disease nearly claimed it all. Initially misdiagnosed and dismissed, his symptoms escalated into a near-fatal episode, revealing the true extent of his condition. Forced to confront challenges affecting his heart, lungs ... Show More
38m 46s
Nov 2024
Douglas J. Engelman, "A Boy Broken: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Mental Illness, Loss, and a Search for Meaning" (2023)
In A Boy Broken: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Mental Ilness, Loss, and a Search for Meaning (2023), Dr. Douglas J. Engelman takes us through an often painful, sometimes uplifting story, where he recalls and describes the moment his relationship with his son changed foreve ... Show More
44m 57s
Jun 13
Double-Blasted
We first aired this episode in 2012, but at the show we’ve been thinking a lot about resilience and repair so we wanted to play it for you again today. It’s about a man who experienced maybe one of the most chilling traumas… twice. But then, it leads us to a story of generational ... Show More
20m 54s
Dec 2024
Who was the "Elephant Man"? Joseph Merrick's True Story
The life of Joseph Merrick, the man they dared to call "The Elephant Man", will fill you with pain and anger. He was treated so cruelly by society that he found becoming a freak show exhibit preferably to the life available to him elsewhere. Yet alongside darkness there is light ... Show More
47m 14s
Mar 2025
BIG T Trauma Series Ep. 21: All Things TXA
Join Patrick Georgoff as he welcomes Dr. Gene Moore and Dr. Ian Roberts, two giants in trauma surgery and epidemiology, to discuss tranexamic acid (TXA) in trauma care. Dr. Moore, a legendary trauma surgeon and researcher, and Dr. Roberts, the architect of the CRASH trials, break ... Show More
49m 21s
Oct 2024
14. Gabor Maté
Kirsty Young asks physician and trauma specialist Gabor Maté what advice he would give his younger self.Maté was born to Jewish parents in terrible circumstances in Hungary in 1943. His grandparents were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp, his father was in forced labour ... Show More
40m 15s
May 2019
"The Happiness of All Mankind" Season 1 Episode 4 'Chernobyl' Review
Christian, Jeremy and Julana break down episode 4. Think you have a bad job? Try getting animal control or roof clean-up duty post-Chernobyl. Plus, a horrifying parent-child dynamic rounds out yet another episode of It’s Always Sunny in Pripyat. HBO brings Chernobyl to the screen ... Show More
52m 17s
Oct 2016
Episode 29 - Halloween Edition
In this episode, we take on the controversial and strange subject of cephalosomatic anastomosis, better known as a head transplant. Although never done before in humans, there is both a surgeon and a patient willing to try this in the near future! We'll take a look at the surpris ... Show More
13m 53s
Apr 2025
Final Days of 'Mad' George III
How did George III die? Was it raving in a straightjacket? Who stayed with him at the end of his long illness? Today we uncover the truth about George III, the man unfairly remembered as the mad King who lost America. Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Senior Prod ... Show More
55m 25s