Local Happenings - An Epidemic

transcribed at

Local Happenings - An Epidemic  [duchas:4699144]

In November 1918 a terrible epidemic overtook this country. People say around here that from the huge amout of  corpses that were in France and other foreign countries during the great war a disease arose. The epidemic was called "the big flu" and a person was attacked by the germ immediately. Some people bled profusely from the nose, and others took pains in their bones and heads.

It lasted seven months from November  1918 until May 1919. When it came to the country the poeple did not know   what it was. They paid no heed to it until it got a hold of them and then they were not able to resist it.

There were no doctors in the

Local Happenings - An Epidemic  [duchas:4699145]

district as those who were safe from the epidemic were not able to cope with the amount of work. My father says that Doctor O Harte, out local doctor, worked night and day until he fell with fatigue in the end. It was pitiable to see the very small funerals and other people at home lying with the "flu".

This epidemic left many a broken heart, and a delicate constitution.


Kathleen Scanlon
Cluid
Ballymote