106-year-old Indian Delhi man who was child during Spanish Flu survives Covid-19

Notably, his wife and another family member also had contracted COVID-19, and have successfully recovered about a month-and-a-half ago.  
July 07, 2020 | 07:30
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Illustrative photo by Reuters

A 106-year-old man from Delhi, who was just four years old when the Spanish Flu made the rounds back in 1918, has successfully defeated the coronavirus and recovered quicker than his son, who in his 70s, at a dedicated COVID-19 facility, doctors confirmed.

The centenarian patient (name withheld), a resident of Old Delhi, was recently discharged from the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) after recovering from the novel virus, they said.

His wife, son and another family member, who were all infected by the coronavirus, have recuperated, the doctors added.

The elderly man was brought to the RGSSH, a hospital dedicated in providing COVID-19 treatment facilities in east Delhi by the city government, during mid-April and discharged early in May.

Another senior doctor told PTI: "Perhaps, he is the first reported case of COVID-19 in Delhi who also went through the dreaded Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 which like COVID-19 had also ravaged the world?"

Doctors at the RGSSH, a dedicated Covid-19 facility were amazed to see the recovery of this centenarian patient from the novel coronavirus, even though he was highly vulnerable to the infection.

“We don’t know whether he was affected by the Spanish Flu or not. We haven’t seen much documentation on the situation back then as far as Delhi is concerned, but very few hospitals were there at that time. It is amazing this 106-year-old showed the will power to survive,” a senior doctor, who monitored his situation, said.

"He lived through two pandemics," he doctor added.

But, what is more interesting is that he recovered faster than his son, who is in his 70s. So, he lived through the Spanish Flu and now survived Covid-19, hence, he lived through two pandemics, he said.

Besides, his wife and another family member also had contracted Covid-19, and all four have successfully recovered and were discharged about a month-and-a-half ago, the doctor said.

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The 106-year-old patient was discharged from the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) recently after recovering. Photo: hindustantimes

Spanish Flu was a pandemic which hit the world 102 years ago, and affected nearly one-third of the global population at that time.

“The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919,” according to the Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) in the US.

In the US, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about 6,75,000 deaths occurred in America, it said.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, the pandemic of 1918-1919 called the Spanish Flu was particularly virulent, and killed an estimated 40 million people worldwide.

(Source: hindustantimes)

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Tony Nguyen
(hindustantimes, ndtv)