In York, all elementary schools were closed in the first week of July and remained closed throughout the whole summer. In Newcastle, police, fire brigade and hospital staff were absent in significant numbers, and in Manchester, more than 200 tramway car drivers and guards went off sick. In some streets in Sunderland, every household was affected, and entire families laid up. Northern England, with its industrial base and high urban population, was badly stricken. Īs the illness spread throughout the population, it disrupted patterns of everyday life which had already been transformed by the turmoil of the First World War. There were also multiple incidences of delirium and psychological disturbances, leading to violence and self-harm. In the most severe cases, the infection led to an immune system response known as heliotrope cyanosis, in which the body turned black or blue as fluid leaked into the lungs and drowned the sufferer. Then follow headache, pains in the back, and occasionally sickness, with a feeling of absolute helplessness.” “Those people who have not yet been affected will be interested to learn that the first symptoms…are an attack of aches and pains all over the body, along with dizziness. An article in the Yorkshire Evening Post described the signs of their illness for readers fortunate enough to have escaped infection so far: In mid-June 1918, people across the UK began to fall sick. A Forgotten History through a Rowntree Lens A Forgotten History through a Rowntree Lens 1.
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