Centenarians, semi and supercentenarians, COVID-19 and Spanish flu: a serological assessment to gain insight into the resilience of older centenarians to COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Although it is well known that the older people have been the most susceptible to COVID-19, there are conflicting data on the susceptibility of centenarians. Two epidemiological study have shown that older centenarians (> 101 years old at the time of the 2020 pandemic peak) are more resilient than the remaining centenarians, suggesting that this resilience might be linked to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. To gain insight into this matter, specifically whether the resilience of older centenarians to SARS-CoV-2 infection is linked to the Spanish Flu they had been affected by, we conducted a retrospective serological study. This study examined serum samples from 33 centenarians, encompassing semi- (aged > 104 < 110 years, N = 7) and supercentenarians (aged > 109 years, N = 4), born between 1905 and 1922, against both SARS-CoV-2 and 1918 H1N1 pseudotype virus. RESULTS: Anamnestic and laboratory data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred in 8 centenarians. The infection appeared to have been asymptomatic or mild, and hospitalization was not required, despite 3 out of 8 being between 109 and 110 years old. The levels of anti-spike antibodies in centenarians infected and/or vaccinated were higher, although not significantly, than those produced by a random sample of seventy-year-old individuals used as controls. All centenarians had antibody levels against the 1918 H1N1 virus significantly higher (almost 50 times) than those observed in the quoted group of seventy-year-old subjects, confirming the key role in maintaining immunological memory from a priming that occurred over 100 years ago. Centenarians whose blood was collected prior to the pandemic outbreak demonstrated neutralising antibodies against the 1918 H1N1 virus, but all these subjects tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSION: This retrospective study shows that older centenarians are quite resilient to COVID-19, as they are capable of producing good levels of neutralising antibodies and experiencing mild or asymptomatic disease. This could be attributed to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic through mechanisms other than the presence of cross-reactive antibodies between the 1918 H1N1 virus and SARS-CoV-2. Another possibility is that the association is purely temporal, solely correlated with the advanced age of resilient centenarians compared to those born after 1918, since older centenarians are known to have better control of immune-inflammatory responses.

Is COVID-19 as Lethal as the Spanish Flu? The Australian Experience in 1919 and 2020 and the Role of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs).

We conducted a comparative historical study to interrogate Professor Peter Doherty's warning to Australians in April 2020 that 'COVID-19 is just as lethal as the Spanish flu'. We identified the epicentres of both pandemics, namely, metropolitan Sydney in 1919 and metropolitan Melbourne in 2020 and compared the lethality of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 in these two cities. Lethality was measured by the number and rate of hospital admissions, death rates, age-specific death rates and age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs). Using these measures, we demonstrated the strikingly different waves of infection, their severity at various points in time and the cumulative impact of the viruses by the end of our study period, i.e., 30 September in 1919 and 2020. Hospital admissions and deaths from the Spanish Flu in 1919 were more than 30 times higher than those for COVID-19 in 2020. The ASMR per 100,000 population for the Spanish Flu was 383 compared to 7 for COVID-19: The former was about 55 times higher than the latter. These results suggest that the Spanish Flu was more lethal than COVID-19. Professor Doherty's warning was perhaps taken seriously and that partly explains the findings of this study. Containing infection in 1919 and 2020 threw the burden on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as 'protective sequestration' (quarantine), contact tracing, lockdowns and masks. It is likely that the persistent and detailed contact tracing scheme provides the best possible explanation for why NPIs in 2020 were more effective than in 1919 and therefore contributed to the lower lethality of the COVID-19 pandemic in its first year.

The Mortality of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 in The Netherlands: a Historical Comparison.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been called the deadliest disease event in history. In this study, we compared the cause specific mortality of the Spanish flu (1918-1920) with the cause specific mortality of COVID-19 (2020-2022) in the Netherlands. During the period of exposure, around 50,000 people died from COVID-19 and 32,000 people from the Spanish flu. In absolute numbers, COVID-19 seems to be deadlier than Spanish flu. However, the crude mortality rates of COVID-19 and Spanish flu were respectively 287 and 486 per 100,000 inhabitants. Compared by an age standardized mortality, there would have been 28 COVID-19 and 194 Spanish flu related deaths in 1918-1920, or there would have been 214 Spanish flu and 98 COVID-19 related deaths in 2020-2022 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Thus, taking the population differences into account, the Spanish flu would have been deadlier than COVID-19.

SPATIAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE 1918-1919 PANDEMIC FLU IN SPLIT / Prostorna i socijalna obiljezja pandemijske gripe 1918. - 1919. u Splitu

The Spanish flu pandemic is considered the largest and most dangerous epidemic at the beginning of the 20th century affecting most of the world today. The Spanish flu pandemic did not bypass the territory of Croatia (at the time, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy), nor its southern coastal region of Dalmatia and the city of Split. Using the example of the city Split, the paper analyses the spatial and demographic determinants of population mortality from the Spanish flu between 1918 and 1919, i.e., from March 1918 to April 1919. The paper is based on the data of the Church Death registers kept in the Archbishop's Archives in Split and newspaper articles. The analysis of the spatial distribution of mortality within urban settlements showed that the number of deaths per urban settlement

"The Graves Cannot Be Dug Fast Enough": Excess Deaths Among US Amish and Mennonites During the 1918 Flu Pandemic.

Estimating the lethal impact of a pandemic on a religious community with significant barriers to outsiders can be exceedingly difficult. Nevertheless, Stein and colleagues (2021) developed an innovative means of arriving at such an estimate for the lethal impact of COVID-19 on the Amish community in 2020 by counting user-generated death reports in the widely circulated Amish periodical The Budget. By comparing monthly averages of reported deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stein and colleagues were able to arrive at a rough estimate of "excess deaths" during the first year of the pandemic. Our research extends the same research method, applying it to the years during and immediately preceding the global influenza pandemic of 1918. Results show similarly robust findings, including three notable "waves" of excess deaths among Amish and conservative Mennonites in the USA in 1918, 1919, and 1920. Such results point to the promise of utilizing religious periodicals like The Budget as a relatively untapped trove of user-generated data on public health outcomes among religious minorities more than a century in the past.

"Valha-nos a Providência!": festas e ritos católicos em tempos epidêmicos, Salvador-BA, Brasil, 1918-1919 / "God for us!": Catholic festivals and rites in times of epidemics, Salvador-BA, Brasil, 1918-1919

Resumo O artigo analisa as reações dos católicos vinculados às associações leigas na cidade do Salvador, no período da gripe espanhola (1918) e da varíola (1919). Os jornais foram as principais fontes utilizadas para a identificação das festas e dos ritos, tanto dos praticados para pedir a intercessão dos santos quanto daqueles que foram suspensos em função da necessidade de isolamento social. Apesar de ambas as doenças serem transmissíveis e do curto espaço de tempo entre as duas epidemias, a análise das fontes evidenciou diferentes reações dos fiéis quanto às medidas de proteção e busca da cura.

Abstract This article analyzes the reactions of Catholics linked to lay associations in the city of Salvador, in the period of the Spanish flu (1918) and smallpox (1919). Newspapers were the main sources used to identify the festivals and rites, both those practiced to ask for the intercession of the saints, and those that were suspended due to the need for social isolation. In spite of both diseases being transmissible and the short interval between the two epidemics, the analysis of the sources showed different reactions from the faithful regarding the measures of protection and the search for a cure.

From pandemic to endemic: Spatial-temporal patterns of influenza-like illness incidence in a Swiss canton, 1918-1924.

In pandemics, past and present, there is no textbook definition of when a pandemic is over, and how and when exactly a respiratory virus transitions from pandemic to endemic spread. In this paper we have compared the 1918/19 influenza pandemic and the subsequent spread of seasonal flu until 1924. We analysed 14,125 reports of newly stated 32,198 influenza-like illnesses from the Swiss canton of Bern. We analysed the temporal and spatial spread at the level of 497 municipalities, 9 regions, and the entire canton. We calculated incidence rates per 1000 inhabitants of newly registered cases per calendar week. Further, we illustrated the incidences of each municipality for each wave (first wave in summer 1918, second wave in fall/winter 1918/19, the strong later wave in early 1920, as well as the two seasonal waves in 1922 and 1924) on a choropleth map. We performed a spatial hotspot analysis to identify spatial clusters in each wave, using the Gi* statistic. Furthermore, we applied a robust negative binomial regression to estimate the association between selected explanatory variables and incidence on the ecological level. We show that the pandemic transitioned to endemic spread in several waves (including another strong wave in February 1920) with lower incidence and rather local spread until 1924 at least. At the municipality and regional levels, there were different patterns of spread both between pandemic and seasonal waves. In the first pandemic wave in summer 1918 the probability of higher incidence was increased in municipalities with a higher proportion of factories (OR 2.60, 95%CI 1.42-4.96), as well as in municipalities that had access to a railway station (OR 1.50, 95%CI 1.16-1.96). In contrast, the strong fall/winter wave 1918 was very widespread throughout the canton. In general, municipalities at higher altitude showed lower incidence. Our study adds to the sparse literature on incidence in the 1918/19 pandemic and subsequent years. Before Covid-19, the last pandemic that occurred in several waves and then became endemic was the 1918-19 pandemic. Such scenarios from the past can inform pandemic planning and preparedness in future outbreaks.

Have Diagnostics, Therapies, and Vaccines Made the Difference in the Pandemic Evolution of COVID-19 in Comparison with "Spanish Flu"?

In 1918 many countries, but not Spain, were fighting World War I. Spanish press could report about the diffusion and severity of a new infection without censorship for the first-time, so that this pandemic is commonly defined as "Spanish flu", even though Spain was not its place of origin. "Spanish flu" was one of the deadliest pandemics in history and has been frequently compared with the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic. These pandemics share similarities, being both caused by highly variable and transmissible respiratory RNA viruses, and diversity, represented by diagnostics, therapies, and especially vaccines, which were made rapidly available for COVID-19, but not for "Spanish flu". Most comparison studies have been carried out in the first period of COVID-19, when these resources were either not yet available or their use had not long started. Conversely, we wanted to analyze the role that the advanced diagnostics, anti-viral agents, including monoclonal antibodies, and innovative COVID-19 vaccines, may have had in the pandemic containment. Early diagnosis, therapies, and anti-COVID-19 vaccines have markedly reduced the pandemic severity and mortality, thus preventing the collapse of the public health services. However, their influence on the reduction of infections and re-infections, thus on the transition from pandemic to endemic condition, appears to be of minor relevance. The high viral variability of influenza and coronavirus may probably be contained by the development of universal vaccines, which are not easy to be obtained. The only effective weapon still remains the disease prevention, to be achieved with the reduction of promiscuity between the animal reservoirs of these zoonotic diseases and humans.

Comparative study of pandemics and their impact on children and adolescents: COVID-19 and Spanish Flu.

Overview: Pandemics are characterized by an abrupt and sudden outburst and absence of preparation for its management. The focus during pandemics is on the medical aspect of the disease and not on its impact on the citizens' or vulnerable groups' psychosocial wellbeing. Aim: The purpose of this study was to highlight the impact of the pandemics of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 on children and adolescents as well as to recognize their short and long-terms effects on children's and adolescents' physical and mental health. Materials and Methods: The material of this review constituted of publications regarding the impact of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 on children and adolescents via relative search through valid databases and websites of trustworthy organizations. Results: The main finding of the present review was that pandemics negatively affect children and adolescents undermining their mental and physical health. The factors that negatively impact on this population's normal development include parental death, financial hardships, restrictive measures, disruption of daily routine and absence of social contact. The short-term effects include anxiety, depression, aggressive behavior as well as fear and grief. Mental disorders, disability, poor academic performance and low socioeconomic level are among the long-term effects of the two under study pandemics. Conclusions: Children and adolescents constitute a vulnerable group amidst pandemics and there is a need for coordinated worldwide and national actions to prevent and timely manage a pandemic's impact.

O lampejo dos rastros nos intervalos da montagem: notas metodológicas sobre a incursão em arquivos concernentes à febre amarela e à gripe espanhola / The flash of traces in the montage intervals: methodological notes on the incursion into Yellow Fever and Spanish Flu archives / El destello de los rastros en los intervalos del montaje: apuntes metodológicos sobre la incursión en archivos concernientes a la fiebre amarilla y a la gripe española

No presente artigo, tecemos reflexões e apresentamos conceitos que têm orientado uma pesquisa nos registros de arquivos sobre a febre amarela e a gripe espanhola, nos acervos da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, da Biblioteca Nacional e do Arquivo Nacional. A pesquisa é centrada na busca dos rastros e das ruínas desses eventos epidêmicos, mediante o método da montagem e com a perspectiva do limiar. Buscamos, por meio dessas materialidades, criar intervalos, experimentar e tecer brechas que prefiguram outros possíveis. Defendemos que, ao manejar, por meio da fabulação crítica, as formas como uma epidemia se faz aparecer, habilitamos a elaboração de uma imaginação política capaz de conferir ao futuro outras possibilidades e outros agenciamentos que não sejam a catástrofe e a melancolia

In this article we reflect on the presented concepts that have guided research in the archival records of Yellow Fever and Spanish Flu in the collections of the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation), the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), and the Arquivo Nacional (National Archive). The research is centered on the search for the traces and ruins of those epidemic events, through the method of montage and from the perspective of the threshold. We seek, by means of these materialities, to create intervals, to experiment, and to weave gaps that prefigure other possibilities. We argue that, by coping with, through critical fabulation, the ways in which an epidemic makes itself appear, we enable the elaboration of a political imagination capable of giving the future other possibilities and arrangements that are not the catastrophe and the melancholy

En el presente artículo hacemos reflexiones y presentamos conceptos que han guiado una investigación sobre los registros archivísticos de la fiebre amarilla y la gripe española en los acervos de la Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fundación Oswaldo Cruz), de la Biblioteca Nacional (Biblioteca Nacional y del Arquivo Nacional (Archivo Nacional). La investigación se centra en la búsqueda de los rastros y las ruinas de esos eventos epidémicos, mediante el método del montaje y la perspectiva del umbral. Buscamos, por medio de estas materialidades, crear intervalos, experimentar y tejer brechas que prefiguren otras posibilidades. Argumentamos que manejando, a través de la fabulación crítica, las formas en que se hace aparecer una epidemia, posibilitamos la elaboración de una imaginación política que dé al futuro otras posibilidades y disposiciones que no sean la catástrofe y la melancolía

La estigmatización de las comunidades gitanas en la pandemia de gripe española. Un estudio de caso a través de la provincia de Bizkaia en 1918 / The stigmatisation of gypsy communities in the spanish flu pandemic. A case study across the province of bizkaia in 1918

La pandemia de gripe española que tuvo lugar entre 1918 y 1920 ha sido profundamente estudiada desde numerosas perspectivas. Sin embargo, existen efectos sociales de la pandemia que todavía no se han explorado lo suficiente. La estigmatización y discriminación de ciertos grupos significados étnicamente como los gitanos fueron producto de las medidas profilácticas aplicadas para poner freno a la extensión del virus. La circulación y presencia de las comunidades gitanas sirvieron como argumento para explicar en ocasiones los desastres sociosanitarios. Por medio del estudio concreto de la provincia de Bizkaia este artículo pretende profundizar en la dimensión social del conflicto y, al mismo tiempo, analizar el encaje de los gitanos ante la situación de crisis sanitaria que dio lugar a discursos y prácticas dirigidas al control de estos grupos étnicos que históricamente han contraído relaciones complejas con las regulaciones gubernativas.(AU)

The Spanish flu pandemic that took place between 1918 and 1920 has been studied from various perspectives. However, there are social effects of the pandemic that have not yet been sufficiently explored. The stigmatization and discrimination of certain ethnically significant groups such as gypsies were the product of the prophylactic measures applied to stop the spread of the virus. The circulation and presence of the Roma communities served as an argument to explain some social and health problems. Through the specific study of the province of Biscay, this article aims to analyze the social dimension of the conflict and, at the same time, study the situation of these Roma communities in this health crisis. During the pandemic, discourses and practices aimed at controlling these ethnic groups were generated. These have historically had complex relationships with government regulations.(AU)

Reinfections and Cross-Protection in the 1918/19 Influenza Pandemic: Revisiting a Survey Among Male and Female Factory Workers.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic highlights questions regarding reinfections and immunity resulting from vaccination and/or previous illness. Studies addressing related questions for historical pandemics are limited. Methods: We revisit an unnoticed archival source on the 1918/19 influenza pandemic. We analysed individual responses to a medical survey completed by an entire factory workforce in Western Switzerland in 1919. Results: Among the total of n = 820 factory workers, 50.2% reported influenza-related illness during the pandemic, the majority of whom reported severe illness. Among male workers 47.4% reported an illness vs. 58.5% of female workers, although this might be explained by varied age distribution for each sex (median age was 31 years old for men, vs. 22 years old for females). Among those who reported illness, 15.3% reported reinfections. Reinfection rates increased across the three pandemic waves. The majority of subsequent infections were reported to be as severe as the first infection, if not more. Illness during the first wave, in the summer of 1918, was associated with a 35.9% (95%CI, 15.7-51.1) protective effect against reinfections during later waves. Conclusion: Our study draws attention to a forgotten constant between multi-wave pandemics triggered by respiratory viruses: Reinfection and cross-protection have been and continue to be a key topic for health authorities and physicians in pandemics, becoming increasingly important as the number of waves increases.

The Spanish Flu of 1918: A Historical Reflection and Lessons from Masonic Lodges.

A catastrophic Spanish flu pandemic spread throughout the world during 1918-1919. In the spring of 1918, an army training center at the Fort Riley Kansas reported the first cases of Spanish flu in the United States. The first reported cases of the Spanish Flu of the virus in Kansas were quite moderate. The Spanish flu took an ominous turn in the fall of 1918 when injured soldiers who contracted the Spanish flu returned to the United States, spreading the illness across urban and rural communities. During this period of the Spanish flu, the freemason lodges served as accessory hospitals to help manage the growing Spanish flu cases across the United States. In this paper, we explore the experiences, challenges, and lessons from Freemason lodges during the Spanish flu to provide context and historical insights into the overlaps between the Spanish Flu and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Age-specific mortality and the role of living remotely: The 1918-20 influenza pandemic in Kautokeino and Karasjok, Norway.

The 1918-20 pandemic influenza killed 50-100 million people worldwide, but mortality varied by ethnicity and geography. In Norway, areas dominated by Sámi experienced 3-5 times higher mortality than the country's average. We here use data from burial registers and censuses to calculate all-cause excess mortality by age and wave in two remote Sámi areas of Norway 1918-20. We hypothesise that geographic isolation, less prior exposure to seasonal influenza, and thus less immunity led to higher Indigenous mortality and a different age distribution of mortality (higher mortality for all) than was typical for this pandemic in non-isolated majority populations (higher young adult mortality & sparing of the elderly). Our results show that in the fall of 1918 (Karasjok), winter of 1919 (Kautokeino), and winter of 1920 (Karasjok), young adults had the highest excess mortality, followed by also high excess mortality among the elderly and children. Children did not exhibit excess mortality in the second wave in Karasjok in 1920. It was not the young adults alone who produced the excess mortality in Kautokeino and Karasjok. We conclude that geographic isolation caused higher mortality among the elderly in the first and second waves, and among children in the first wave.

Do pandemics spawn extremism? Spanish flu deaths and the Ku Klux Klan.

Scholars and journalists connect pandemics to a rise in support for radical political movements. In this study, we draw on this insight to investigate the relationship between the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza pandemic and political extremism-here, the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan-in the United States. Specifically, we ask whether U.S. states and cities with higher death rates from the Spanish flu also had stronger Ku Klux Klan organizations in the early 1920s. Our results do not provide evidence of such a connection; in fact, the data suggest greater Klan membership where the pandemic was less severe. This provides initial evidence that pandemic severity, as measured by mortality, is not necessarily a cause of extremism in the United States; power devaluation as a result of social and cultural change, however, does appear to spur such mobilization.

The impact of pandemics on labour organization: insights from an Italian company archive during the Spanish Flu.

In this paper, we discuss the classical modelling approach of pandemics as a negative labour shock. We perform an archival analysis of one of the largest Italian banks (Credito Italiano) during the First World War - Spanish Flu period (1914-1920). In particular, we scrutinise the circulars that the central management of the bank sent out to the local branches, with the aim to assess whether the Spanish Flu has been perceived by contemporaries as an event seriously affecting personnel management. Though restricted to a single case-study, archival evidence does not support the existence of a remarkable negative labour supply shock affecting personnel management because of the Spanish Flu pandemic. Other war-related events probably increased the system's resilience.

COVID-19, Virtual Engagement and the Psychoid Imagination.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on analytic training and the delivery of educational content is explored here. The proliferation of Zoom therapy and teaching is creating a post-human platform to which nearly everyone in contemporary society has had to adapt. Looking at the possible meanings of the pandemic, a psychoid factor (the virus) engaging the imagination has come to the fore as a response to climate change. The striking similarity to the H1N1 viral pandemic ("Spanish flu") is noted, especially in the context of C. G. Jung having had a case in 1919 during which he experienced a number of visions and dreams. The imagery produced can be seen as an implicit attempt at "re-enchanting the world" found in The red book. Finally, a reconsideration of pedagogy in response to the pandemic is discussed with an eye to the archetypal aspects of internet communications.

Cet article étudie l'impact de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur la formation des analystes et sur la manière dont le contenu éducatif est dispensé. La prolifération de thérapie et de formation par Zoom crée une plateforme post-humaine à laquelle quasiment toute personne dans la société contemporaine a eu à s'adapter. En regardant les sens possibles que l'on peut donner à la pandémie, un facteur psychoïde (le virus) qui mobilise l'imagination a pris le devant de la scène en tant que réponse au changement climatique. L'article souligne la similarité frappante avec la pandémie virale H1N1 (la grippe espagnole), particulièrement dans le contexte où C.G. Jung l'a attrapée en 1919 et a fait l'expérience d'un certain nombre de visions et de rêves. L'imagerie produite peut être vue comme une tentative implicite de « ré-enchanter le monde ¼ telle qu'on la trouve dans le Livre Rouge. En conclusion, une reconsidération de la pédagogie issue de la pandémie est discutée en tenant compte des aspects archétypaux des communications par internet.

Se exploran aquí las repercusiones de la pandemia de COVID-19 en la formación analítica y en la transmisión de contenidos educativos. La proliferación de la terapia y la enseñanza vía Zoom está creando una plataforma posthumana a la que casi todo el mundo en la sociedad contemporánea ha tenido que adaptarse. En cuanto a los posibles significados de la pandemia, un factor psicoide (el virus) que atrae la imaginación ha pasado a primer plano como respuesta al cambio climático. Se observa la sorprendente similitud con la pandemia viral H1N1 ("gripe española"), especialmente en el contexto de un caso que C.G. Jung tuvo en 1919 durante el cual experimentó una serie de visiones y sueños. La imaginería producida puede verse como un intento implícito de "reencantar el mundo" que se encuentra en El Libro Rojo. Por último, se plantea una reconsideración de la pedagogía en respuesta a la pandemia, teniendo en cuenta los aspectos arquetípicos de las comunicaciones por Internet.

Role of Sex and Age in Fatal Outcomes of COVID-19: Women and Older Centenarians Are More Resilient.

In the present paper, we have analysed the role of age and sex in the fatal outcome of COVID-19, as there are conflicting results in the literature. As such, we have answered three controversial questions regarding this aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Have women been more resilient than men? (2) Did centenarians die less than the remaining older people? (3) Were older centenarians more resistant to SARS-CoV-2 than younger centenarians? The literature review demonstrated that: (1) it is women who are more resilient, in agreement with data showing that women live longer than men even during severe famines and epidemics; however, there are conflicting data regarding centenarian men; (2) centenarians overall did not die less than remaining older people, likely linked to their frailty; (3) in the first pandemic wave of 2020, centenarians > 101 years old (i.e., born before 1919), but not "younger centenarians", have been more resilient to COVID-19 and this may be related to the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, although it is unclear what the mechanisms might be involved.

What does the biography of Duncan Forbes MBE (1873-1941), Medical Officer of Health for Brighton (1908-1938), reveal about managing pandemics?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the national lockdowns of 2020/2021 illustrate how modern public health systems are founded on empirical evidence and contemporary understanding of disease transmission. Duncan Forbes was one of the earliest sanitarians in Britain to propose and implement a new understanding of infectious disease control. Starting his early career in Manchester and Cambridge, his eventual tenure as Brighton's longest-serving medical officer of health (MOH) left an indelible mark by challenging the entrenched tradition of terminal disinfection and by devising his "Brighton methods" for the care of tubercular patients. Forbes led Brighton's public health responses during World War I and the 1918/1919 "Spanish" influenza pandemic. Forbes also strove to improve health and housing in Brighton. His views on limiting access to contraception on the grounds of eugenics are also significant. Analysis of Forbes' work then allowed a discussion of both his legacy and of the applicability of his experiences to our own in tackling COVID-19. Forbes undeniably had a great influence in shaping modern public health practice in Britain and his challenges as MOH bear many similarities, as well as stark differences, to today's experience of COVID-19.

Centenarians born before 1919 are resistant to COVID-19.

Although mortality from COVID-19 progressively increases with age, there are controversial data in the literature on the probability of centenarians dying from COVID-19. Moreover, it has been claimed that men in their 90s and 100s are more resilient than women. To gain insight into this matter, we analysed, according to gender, mortality data during the first year of pandemic of Sicilian nonagenarians and centenarians. We used mortality data from the 2019 as a control. The crude excess mortality between the two years was calculated. Data on deaths of Sicilian 90 + years show that, in line with what is known about the different response to infections between the two genders, oldest females are more resilient to COVID-19 than males. Moreover, centenarians born before 1919, but not "younger centenarians", are resilient to COVID-19. This latter datum should be related to the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, although the mechanisms involved are not clear.