Swine Flu.

This is coolbert:

By now, almost all readers to the blog are aware of the latest outbreak of swine flu.

Apparently, and to the great relief of everyone, this is NOT THE VARIATION OF THE SWINE FLU THAT KILLED UNCOUNTED TENS OF MILLIONS [?] IN 1918.

A much less virulent form of the illness, but nonetheless, still troublesome and worrisome. Is going to assume the status of a pandemic?

BUT - - AGAIN - - NOT THE KILLER AS WAS THE VARIATION OF 1918.

THE SWINE FLU OF 1918 RESULTED IN MAGNITUDES MORE DEATHS OF PERSONS WORLD-WIDE EVEN WAY BEYOND WHAT WAS KILLED ON ALL THE BATTLEFIELDS OF THE GREAT WAR [WW1]!!

All the various scientists since 1918 that have studied the pandemic of that period are undecided as to WHERE and HOW the disease first manifested itself! Ten different scientists will provide ten different answers to the same question. WHERE and HOW?

The British Expeditionary Force [BEF] depot of Etaples ["e-top"] is a favorite candidate of many scientists who have studied the WHERE and HOW!

"during the period of The Great War. Étaples was the principal depôt and transit camp for the British Expeditionary Force, the British army in France . . . In 1918, it was from a British viewpoint, at the centre of the influenza pandemic."

"Étaples . . . was a notorious base camp for those on their way to the front. Under atrocious conditions, both raw recruits and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas (chemical) warfare, bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes."

BRISK TRAINING!!

Etaples was the major staging post for units moving to and from the front lines! AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT, 80,000-100,000 TROOPS WERE IN RESIDENCE AT ETAPLES, living in close, confined, unsanitary quarters. Etaples was a city unto itself, complete with chicken ranch and swinery [pig farm]!

It is thought by many that the illness, the swine flu, "jumped" from those pigs to the soldiers in residence at Etaples. Spreading quickly to other combatants and from there to others around the world with the end of the war and demobilization.

"the close troop quarters and massive troop movements hastened the pandemic, and increased transmission augmented mutation and may have increased the lethality of the virus. Some researchers speculate that the soldiers' immune systems were weakened by malnourishment, and the stresses of combat and chemical attacks, increasing their susceptibility to the disease."

It must be said - - that the jury is out on all this, no conclusion has been agreed upon, or perhaps ever will be!!

IT HAS EVEN BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THOSE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSES [Michael, Blucher, Georgette] OF 1918 - - WHICH ALMOST TIPPED THE WAR IN FAVOR OF GERMANY - - WERE STOPPED BY OUTBREAKS OF THE FLU AMONG THE ADVANCING STURMABTEILUNG!! The elite German troops became so sick they just could not advance any further, buying precious time for the allied forces to regroup and reinforce with rapidly arriving American units!!

"Price-Smith has made the controversial argument that the virus helped tip the balance of power in the latter days of the war towards the Allied cause. Specifically, he provides data that the viral waves hit the Central Powers before they hit the Allied powers"

The wearing of gas masks, the continuous training with same, the process of donning the mask and then taking off when an "all clear" signalled was received, also in measure contributed to the spread of the flu!!?? Masks and filters both, unless suitably dried out after wearing, can harbor all sorts of germs that will only mix, incubate, spread with each usage of the mask!!?? Wearing of the Japanese-type-"masko" is not necessarily a good idea?

coolbert.