According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Asian flu caused the death of 1 to 4 million people between 1956 and 1958. In France , the epidemic would have caused around 100,000 deaths according to recent declarations, but in reality no source certifies this assessment.
With a current toll exceeding 260,000 deaths , Covid-19 is the first global pandemic of the 21st century. But, during the last century, several other pandemics have taken place, the worst being undoubtedly the Spanish flu (1918-1919) which caused between 40 and 50 million deaths. However, the most recent was the Hong Kong flu (1968-1970), which caused 1 million deaths. On the other hand, the latter should not be confused with the Asian flu (1956-1958).
The beginning of a severe flu epidemic appeared in the Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan at the end of 1956 or the beginning of 1957. It was then that British laboratories, Australians and Americans identify a new virus:H2N2. If, at the time, global surveillance of influenza viruses was still underdeveloped, it was the first influenza pandemic to be monitored in real time by virology laboratories.
In February 1957, the epidemic reached Singapore and in April Hong Kong, very quickly infecting no less than 250,000 people. In June, the epidemic reaches the United States and in August comes the turn of Europe. In six months, the virus spreads around the world following land and sea routes. According to the WHO, the Asian flu has killed between 1 and 4 million people.
In an article from March 22, 2020, CheckNews (Liberation) answered a question from an Internet user. The latter asked if an "Asian flu" had really killed 100,000 people in France in 1957-1958. After tracing the history of the virus by drawing parallels with the current Covid-19 pandemic, CheckNews reported that the source of this number remains unclear. Cited by various scientists in recent years until recently, this balance sheet can not be found anywhere.
You should know that there are official statistics. More precisely, it is a table of the demographic situation in France published in 1960 by the demographer Roland Pressat. This counted just over 15,000 deaths from the Asian flu (11,899 in 1957 and 3,270 in 1958). In addition, the person concerned mentioned an underestimation of the figures due to shortcomings in the accounting of deaths linked to the flu. It is therefore possibly a question of a few tens of thousands of additional deaths . However, no one can ever be certain that this final toll really reached 100,000 deaths.
Finally, the mere fact that the WHO gives such a broad estimate – between 1 and 4 million deaths – raises questions. At the time, many countries had great difficulty in clearly distinguishing cases and therefore counting deaths caused by the Asian flu.
