Page 7 - Bulletin 23- 2020

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African miners made continued use of the Kimberley location’s graveyard impossible. In this
cemetery itself, recalled an officiating clergyman, African flu victims were buried in a fresh

mass grave every day between 2 and 4 pm, irrespective of their religion. “Twenty-five bodies

were placed in it, each in a blanket. Then we sang, I said prayers, and then a thin layer of soil
was thrown over them. Then came the next 25 bodies. Usually 100 bodies were buried in this

way every day…but sometimes it was 125 and once 150. That required 6 consecutive
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services.”

A wholly new strain of the disease

Clearly the influenza which scythed through the population with such deadly effect was not

ordinary seasonal flu. The H1N1 flu virus which caused it was a wholly new strain of the
disease, to which no-one in the world had prior immunity. Like ordinary flu, it was spread by

coughing and sneezing and so was transmitted most effectively in crowded spaces; but,

unlike ordinary flu, it rapidly penetrated deep into an infected person’s lungs rather than
lodging in the upper respiratory tract as most flu viruses do. Therein lay the source of its

particular virulence, for its fulminating presence deep in the lungs laid the way open for viral
or bacterial pneumonia which were the chief killers in 1918-19. Laboured breathing, a high

fever, crackling sounds from the lungs, bleeding from the nose or mouth and a dark tingeing

of the skin were frightening, telltale symptoms, along with a very distinct odour, like very
musty straw, “so pungent”, recalled a survivor, “it just came into your nostrils with a bang”.
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Developing primary viral pneumonia usually meant death in three days – hence the colloquial

label “driedagsiekte” – but in that pre-antibiotic age, secondary bacterial pneumonia often

produced the same result, though not as swiftly. In many young adults with a strong immune
system, infection triggered an immune over-response (known as a cytokine storm) so massive

that it, in effect, caused acute respiratory disease syndrome and death. This may explain the
high mortality among those in the 18-40 age-group, a very distinctive feature of the Spanish

flu around the globe. The fact that this group also contained the bulk of the workforce
probably contributed to the disproportionately high toll among them, for, as breadwinners,

many continued to go to work instead of staying in bed and being nursed, which was

probably the most effective treatment available at the time.