Back to Blightly with a case of the Spanish Flu?

Private John Vernon serving with the 7th Reserve West Yorkshire Battalion had been out in France since the 31st March 1918, however on the 1st July 1918 John return to England.

John Vernon was born in Brereton, Rugeley, Staffordshire in 1899, his Uncle Joseph Vernon was married to my Great Aunt Elizabeth Ann Renshaw.

Since the 8th June 1918 He had been suffering with a high fever and this was officially recorded as PUO which is the abbreviation for Pyrexia of unknown (or uncertain) origin, a term applied
to febrile illness before diagnosis has been established; also referred to as FUO (Fever of unknown origin). and was generally associated with fever and raised body temperature.

Although the fever eased to a mild fever throughout June, his condition was still poor enough that it meant he was transported back to England on the 30th June arriving on the 1st July.

During 1918 all nations were greatly effected by the Spanish Flu pandemic, which resulted in the deaths of millions worldwide. Sporadic record-keeping in wartime, and the failure to make influenza officially notifiable, meant that actual incidence was undoubtedly far higher than was officially reported. The disease was often confused with other conditions, and in the initial pandemic phase, when its nature was a complete mystery, cases were often recorded as 'PUO' (Pyrexia of unknown origin), 'three-day fever', or given some other generic label. It is suggested that mortality figures for the Spanish Flu should also be upwardly revised, as virulent flu often paved the way for fatal complications but was not certified as a cause of death.

It infected 500 million people around the world and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (3 - 5% of the world's population),

It is uncertain whether John was suffering from Spanish Flu and the terrible pandemic which was infecting and killing millions worldwide, but clearly he was unwell enough to be transferred back to England.

This first wave had resembled typical flu epidemics; those most at risk were the sick and elderly, while younger, healthier people recovered easily. The second wave of the 1918 pandemic which developed in August 1918 was much deadlier than the first. Academics have concluded that the fact that most of those who recovered from first-wave infections were now immune showed that it must have been the same strain of flu. 

For the rest of the population it was far more deadly now; the most vulnerable people were those like the soldiers in the trenches – young previously healthy adults.