Open AccessInfluenza in Bristol Bay, 1919
Author(s) -
Maria Gilson deValpine
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sage open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2158-2440
DOI - 10.1177/2158244015577418
Subject(s) - pandemic , coast guard , influenza pandemic , fishing , fishing industry , geography , guard (computer science) , population , fishery , history , political science , medicine , covid-19 , environmental health , environmental protection , law , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , pathology , computer science , biology , programming language
The 1918 influenza pandemic has been blamed for as many as 50million deaths worldwide. Like all major disasters, the full story of the pandemicincludes smaller, less noted episodes that have not attracted historical attention. Thestory of the 1919 wave of the influenza pandemic in Bristol Bay Alaska is one such lostepisode. It is an important story because the most accessible accounts—the CongressionalRecord and the Coast Guard Report—are inconsistent with reports made by employees,health care workers, and volunteers at the site of the disaster. Salmon fishing industrysupervisors and medical officers recorded their efforts to save the region’s NativeAlaskans in private company reports. The federal Bureau of Education physician retainedwireless transmission, reports, and letters of events. The Coast Guard summarized itswork in its Annual Report of 1920. The independent Bureau of Fisheries report to theDepartment of Commerce reveals the Coast Guard report at striking odds with others andreconciles only one account. This article explores the historical oversight, andattempts to tell the story of the 1919 wave of the pandemic which devastated the NativeAlaskan population in this very remote place