Pale rider: the Spanish flu and how it changed the world, 2020, Spinney

The link is to a book review of this book:
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Murthy, the reviewer, concludes:
The book made me realize that the current pandemic will bring about extensive changes. Against this expected “mental health tsunami,” there are three tasks for each one of us:

firstly, to document the experiences of individuals, families, communities, and the government;

secondly, to identify the social factors contributing to vulnerabilities and resilience, to guide corrective actions; and lastly,

to utilize the opportunity of heightened awareness of societal‐level issues, to work toward addressing the predisposing causes for higher mortality and morbidity such as inequalities, intolerances, inadequate health infrastructure, the weak welfare network to support the vulnerable, and decentralization of powers and plans to enhance community participation.
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All good things to do, but the assumption on the part of the reviewer is that there will be a mental (ill-)health tsunami, rather than, or alongside, a tsunami of post-infectious physical ill-health.
 
Would be interesting to retrieve the text where Mamelund makes this hypothesis.

Here's his Researchgate profile and list of publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Svenn_Erik_Mamelund/publications

I've found this text from 2003: 'Effects of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 on Later Life Mortality of Norwegian Cohorts Born About 1900'. It reads:
Spanish Influenza survivors were reported to have problems with sleeping, depressions, mental distractions, low blood pressure, dizziness and to cope at work and with everyday life for weeks, months or even years after 1918-19 (Mamelund 1998). According to data from the Norwegian asylum hospitals (calculated from Medisinaldirektøren 1916, 1917, 1920a-b, 1921, 1923a-b, 1924,1925a-c, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1931), there was an excess in the number of first time hospitalized patients with mental diseases caused by influenza and pneumonia each year from 1918 to 1923 when compared to the average of the years 1915-17 and 1924-26 (80 men and 78 women). The number of persons, who suffered mental distractions after Spanish Influenza, is probably much higher than this calculation show as it is likely that people affected by milder or temporary post influenza melancholia did not see a psychiatrist.
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Unfortunately, the reference Mamelund 1998 refers to his PhD thesis in Norwegian.

Other articles cite this paper by Mamelund: "Mamelund SE. The Impact of Influenza on Mental Health in Norway, 1872-1929. Workshop. May 2010. Carlsberg Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7276/25455394eab84386133b95cc97909017213f.pdf. Accessed March 24, 2020."

But I can't see to find a text of this either.
EDIT: just found the text here but it's simply a short abstract: http://misms.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CPH_abstracts.pdf
 
Michiel Tack said:
Would be interesting to retrieve the text where Mamelund makes this hypothesis.

Here's his Researchgate profile and list of publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Svenn_Erik_Mamelund/publications

I've found this text from 2003: 'Effects of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 on Later Life Mortality of Norwegian Cohorts Born About 1900'. It reads:

Unfortunately, the reference Mamelund 1998 refers to his PhD thesis in Norwegian.

Other articles cite this paper by Mamelund: "Mamelund SE. The Impact of Influenza on Mental Health in Norway, 1872-1929. Workshop. May 2010. Carlsberg Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7276/25455394eab84386133b95cc97909017213f.pdf. Accessed March 24, 2020."

But I can't see to find a text of this either.
EDIT: just found the text here but it's simply a short abstract: http://misms.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CPH_abstracts.pdf
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Surprisingly for this type of research you would probably still be allowed to write in Norwegian for a thesis or paper, as it is a local population and it could be argued "not relevant to other countries". Could be some interesting points in the thesis :)
 
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Michiel Tack said:
If only we knew someone who speaks Norwegian...
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I looked up the 1998 thesis, in chapter 3.7 he writes about "Complications and post-viral illness" (hastily translated by me):

Mamelund 1998 said:
Reconvalesence was often long, and many patients, especially young girls, lost their hair similar to the effect of typhoid fever (Galowksy 1919). Temporary deafness after ear infection was not uncommon, and in some cases this led to permanent deafness (DCM 1922). Very ill patients also suffered from sleep issues, depression and difficulties performing tasks of daily living and work for months after reconvalesence. Fear of a return of the illness also led to mental disorders. An international study showed that close to 1/3 had experienced heart troubles, lung tubercolosis and kidney-disease following the spanish flu (Collier 1974). Those who went through the spanish flu also had a high chance of developing Parkinsons disease (Mattock et al. 1988). This has also been shown to be the case with the deadly brain illness encephalities lethargia. Globally more than 500 000 may have died of this post-viral disease in the period 1918-1928 (Ravenholt and Foege 1982).
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His sources:
Collier, R (1974): The Plague of the Spanish Lady. The influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. Macmillan.
Det civile medisinalvesen (1922): Sundhetstilstanden of medisinalforholdene 1918, NOS VIL.58.
Galowsky, E (1919): Haaravfald etter influenza. Tidsskrift for Den Norske Lægeforening. 39(13): 531-532.
MAttock, C., Marmot, M. and G. Stern (1988): Could Parkinson's disease follow intra-uterine influenza?: a speculative hypothesis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 51.735-736.
Ravenholt, R.T. and W.H. Foege (1982): Before our time. 1918 influenza, Encephalities Lethargica, Parkinsonism. The Lancet, 16 Oct., pp. 860-864.

At least in this chapter he does not include a source for the statement that people were not able to do tasks of daily living or work for months (years is not mentioned). It may be it's written somewhere else, but this chapter seemed the most likely based on the title ;) Unfortunately the document seemed to be scanned and I am unable to search through it. Potential long-term problems following the illness is not important enough to be part of the conclusion and what future research should focus on.
 
Midnattsol said:
I looked up the 1998 thesis, in chapter 3.7 he writes about "Complications and post-viral illness" (hastily translated by me):



His sources:
Collier, R (1974): The Plague of the Spanish Lady. The influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. Macmillan.
Det civile medisinalvesen (1922): Sundhetstilstanden of medisinalforholdene 1918, NOS VIL.58.
Galowsky, E (1919): Haaravfald etter influenza. Tidsskrift for Den Norske Lægeforening. 39(13): 531-532.
MAttock, C., Marmot, M. and G. Stern (1988): Could Parkinson's disease follow intra-uterine influenza?: a speculative hypothesis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 51.735-736.
Ravenholt, R.T. and W.H. Foege (1982): Before our time. 1918 influenza, Encephalities Lethargica, Parkinsonism. The Lancet, 16 Oct., pp. 860-864.

At least in this chapter he does not include a source for the statement that people were not able to do tasks of daily living or work for months (years is not mentioned). It may be it's written somewhere else, but this chapter seemed the most likely based on the title ;) Unfortunately the document seemed to be scanned and I am unable to search through it. Potential long-term problems following the illness is not important enough to be part of the conclusion and what future research should focus on.
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Lost their hair is particularly interesting considering how often it happens with Covid.
 
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