101-Year-Old Italian Man Who Was Born During The Spanish Flu Pandemic Survives Coronavirus Illness
A 101-year-old Italian man who was born in the middle of the Spanish Flu Pandemic, was discharged from the hospital this week after recovering from the coronavirus.
The Spanish Flu was also known as the 1918 flu pandemic. It is considered to be the most deadly in history and lasted from January 1918 until December 1920.
It also occurred towards the end of World War 1 (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918).
The Spanish Flu infected a quarter of the world’s population. That equated to half a billion people at that time. The estimated death toll is between 17 million and 50 million.
The 1918 flu pandemic had a higher-than-expected mortality rate for young adults. This is not usually the case with deadly influenza when the very young and the very old are at greatest risk.
Ray of light in a deadly crisis
The coronavirus has been particularly fatal for the elderly. And because Italy has an aging population, the death rate is the highest in the world.
Which is what makes the centenarian recovery case in Italy – known only as ‘Mr. P, so remarkable.
He tested positive for the coronavirus last week and was admitted to the Infirmi Hospital in Remini.
But on Wednesday, family members came to take ‘Mr. P’ home after he had made a full recovery from the coronavirus.
Rimini’s vice mayor Gloria Lisi told local media:
“At 101 years, he lived almost entirely through the past century and then had a glimpse of the new millennium. He has seen everything: war, hunger, pain, progress, crisis and resurrections,” she said.
“And then at the age of over 100 years, fate brought him this new challenge, invisible and terrible at the same time.”
There have been several other feel-good stories involving 100+year-old people recovering from the coronavirus. Including a 103-year-old woman from China and a woman of the same age from Iran.
Read more: Two 103-Year-Old Women Have Recovered From Coronavirus
As of 15H30 GMT Friday afternoon, Italy had 8215 reported deaths from coronavirus and 80 589 confirmed cases. That’s slightly less than China, (81 897), but China has reported 3296 deaths, substantially less than Italy.
IMAGE FEATURED: Dmitry Kalinovsky
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