Imagine waking up one morning in 1889 to read in your local newspaper that was spreading rapidly across Europe, shutting down schools and offices as it moved from city to city along the railway lines. For people living in the late 1800s, this scenario became reality when what they called the "" swept across the globe in a matter of months, affecting an estimated 60% of the population in major cities and killing about one million people worldwide.
This pandemic, which lasted from 1889 to 1894, was unlike anything the world had seen before. It was the , racing along railway tracks and steamship routes while newspaper telegrams carried frightening reports of its progress from capital to capital. But here's where the story gets really interesting: some scientists today think this "flu" might not have been influenza at all, but rather the first coronavirus pandemic in recorded history.
Where It All Began
The pandemic started in , a trading city in what is now Uzbekistan. Back then, Bukhara was part of the Russian Empire and served as an important stop along the trade routes connecting Asia with Europe. Local doctors first noticed people getting sick with a respiratory illness, but they had no idea they were witnessing the beginning of a global catastrophe.
From Bukhara, the disease followed the paths that people and goods traveled. It rode the newly built to other cities in Central Asia, then spread westward into the Russian Empire. By October 1889, it had reached cities thousands of kilometers away. The pattern was clear: wherever trains and ships went, the disease followed close behind.
Think about how different the world was in 1889. There were no airplanes, no cars, and no telephones in most places. But there were extensive railway networks connecting major cities across Europe and North America. By this time, the largest European countries had built about 200,000 kilometers of railroad track, and steamships were getting faster and faster at crossing the Atlantic Ocean, . This infrastructure meant that for the first time in history, a disease could spread around the entire world in just a few months.
A Disease That Baffled Doctors
When the pandemic reached major European cities in November 1889, doctors were puzzled by what they saw. The illness looked like influenza at first, but it had some very unusual characteristics that didn't match what they knew about flu. Patients didn't just have respiratory symptoms like cough and fever. Many also experienced stomach problems, neurological issues (problems with their nervous system), and even skin rashes.
Perhaps most strangely, , something that wouldn't be recognized as an important viral symptom until the COVID-19 pandemic more than 130 years later. People also had a tendency to get sick again after they thought they had recovered, experiencing multiple waves of illness that could last for weeks or months.
Dr. Otto Nägeli, a physician in a small Swiss town called Ermatingen, . In February 1890, right after the worst wave had passed through his community, he visited every house in town to ask who had been sick. Out of 1,330 people, he found that 813 had fallen ill with the disease. That's 61% of the entire population! About 19% of the cases were severe, and 6% of people got sick more than once.
The medical community was completely unprepared for this outbreak. Most doctors had never seen a flu pandemic before, , before many of them were even born. They were still debating whether diseases spread through "bad air" (called ) or through direct contact between people (). The rapid spread of this illness seemed to support the idea that it traveled through the air, but careful observers noticed that it followed transportation routes and often infected railway workers and postal employees first, suggesting it spread from person to person.
When the News Traveled as Fast as the Disease
The 1889 pandemic was , creating a new phenomenon: people could read about a disease spreading across the globe almost as quickly as it was actually happening. This was both helpful and harmful. On one hand, communities could prepare for the disease's arrival by reading reports from cities that had already been affected. On the other hand, the reporting was often sensationalized and inaccurate, creating panic and confusion.
, providing updates on where the flu had spread and how many people were getting sick or dying. However, these reports frequently contained errors, and doctors themselves were confused about what they were seeing. Some thought they were dealing with dengue fever instead of influenza, while others weren't sure if they were seeing one disease or several different illnesses appearing at the same time.
This confusion in the media reflects a problem we still see today during health crises: when information is uncertain and changing rapidly, news reports can sometimes make the situation seem worse than it actually is or provide conflicting advice that leaves people unsure how to protect themselves.
How Governments Tried to Respond
The varied dramatically , partly because there were no international health organizations or standardized procedures for dealing with global disease outbreaks. Most governments were still learning how to handle public health emergencies, and the scientific understanding of how diseases spread was limited.
In Britain, officials recommended basic hygiene measures like improving ventilation in public buildings, disinfecting spaces where sick people had been, prohibiting large public gatherings, and encouraging people to stay home when they were ill. These recommendations sound familiar to anyone who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were quite revolutionary for the 1880s.
However, there were no face masks, no vaccines, and no effective treatments available. Doctors tried various remedies, including quinine (a medicine typically used for malaria), but most treatments either didn't work or were actually dangerous. , showing how desperate the medical community was to find something that might help their patients.
Interestingly, the British government had just passed the , which required doctors and households to report certain diseases to local health authorities. However, this law initially only covered diseases like smallpox and cholera, not respiratory illnesses like the Russian flu. This meant that officials often didn't have good data on how the pandemic was spreading, making it harder to coordinate an effective response.
When Essential Workers Were Hit First
One of the most striking aspects of the 1889 pandemic was , much like what we saw with COVID-19. Postal workers, railway employees, bus and tram drivers, bank clerks, and government officials were often among the first to fall ill in each community. This pattern made sense when you think about it: these were the people whose jobs required them to interact with lots of different people and to handle mail, goods, and passengers coming from other cities.
The impact on important people was dramatic and highly publicized. , showing that wealth and social status did not protect against this illness.
Postal workers were particularly affected because they handled mail from all over Europe and beyond. In Swiss communities, , suggesting that they were being exposed to the disease through their contact with letters and packages from infected areas.
The disruption to essential services created a cascading effect throughout society. When postal workers got sick, mail delivery slowed down, disrupting communication between cities and businesses. When railway workers fell ill, train schedules became unreliable, affecting both passenger travel and the transportation of goods. When bank employees couldn't work, financial transactions were delayed, and when government workers were absent, public services ground to a halt.
Schools Close and Society Adapts
Educational institutions faced massive disruptions during the pandemic, but not always in the way you might expect. Unlike during COVID-19, when schools were often closed as a preventive measure, most school closures during the 1889 pandemic happened simply because too many students and teachers were sick to keep classes running.
In Paris, the situation became so severe that hospitals had to set up emergency tents in their gardens to handle all the patients. , making it even harder to care for the flood of patients. The peak of the outbreak in Paris occurred on December 28, 1889, when there were 180,000 people showing symptoms among the city's 2.5 million residents.
During the Paris outbreak, conditions worsened significantly, leading hospitals to erect temporary tents in their gardens to accommodate the overflow of patients. Notably, nearly , severely complicating patient care amid the surge. The peak of the epidemic in Paris occurred on December 28, 1889. All told, an estimated 180,000 out of the city's 2.5 million inhabitants exhibited symptoms.
Commercial life came to a standstill in many places. Factories shut down when their workers became too ill to operate machinery. Stores and markets saw dramatic decreases in customers, both because people were sick and because they were afraid of catching the disease in crowded places. Transportation systems struggled to maintain schedules when drivers, conductors, and other employees were absent.
The social impact went beyond the immediate effects of illness. In Switzerland, researchers have found that there was a significant drop in births nine months after the pandemic peaked, suggesting that couples either delayed having children during the crisis or that the illness itself affected reproductive health. This shows how pandemics can have long-lasting effects on society that extend well beyond the period when people are actively getting sick.
The Great Mystery: Was It Really the Flu?
Here's where our story takes a fascinating turn. For more than a century, everyone assumed that the 1889 pandemic was caused by an influenza virus, similar to the ones that caused the deadly 1918 Spanish flu or the seasonal flu outbreaks we experience every year. But in recent years, some scientists have proposed a startling alternative theory: , making it the first coronavirus pandemic in recorded history?
This idea might sound far-fetched, but there's actually quite a bit of evidence to support it. First, let's look at the symptoms. The 1889 pandemic caused many of the same unusual symptoms we've seen with COVID-19: loss of taste and smell, problems with multiple organ systems (not just the lungs), neurological issues, and a tendency for symptoms to linger for weeks or months after the initial illness. Traditional influenza typically doesn't cause this wide range of symptoms.
The age pattern of severe illness also matches what we've seen with COVID-19 better than what we typically see with flu. During the 1889 pandemic, children were much less likely to get severely ill or die compared to adults and elderly people. With seasonal influenza, children and elderly adults usually have similar rates of severe illness.
But the most compelling evidence comes from genetic studies of viruses. In 2005, , which today causes about 15-30% of common cold cases during winter months. They discovered that this virus is almost identical to a coronavirus that infects cattle, and they calculated that the human version split off from the cattle version around 1890, right during the time of the Russian flu pandemic.
This timing isn't just a coincidence. During the 1870s and 1880s, there was a massive pandemic among cattle across Europe, caused by a disease called contagious pleuropneumonia. This cattle pandemic required the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals to prevent its spread. .
There's even historical evidence that supports this idea. Contemporary observers noted that during the 1889 pandemic, cattle in affected areas showed symptoms similar to those seen in humans. We know that even today, usually causing diarrhea in children who have close contact with cattle.
The Case Against the Coronavirus Theory
However, not all scientists are convinced by the coronavirus hypothesis. In 2023, . Using sophisticated computer models to analyze when the human and bovine coronaviruses split apart, they calculated that this separation most likely happened between 1898 and 1902, about a decade too late to have caused the 1889 pandemic.
Their analysis suggests that if there was a coronavirus pandemic in the late 1800s, it would more likely have occurred during another serious respiratory disease outbreak that happened in the winter of 1899-1900, which some people at the time thought might be a return of the Russian flu.
Other scientists remain skeptical because there's no direct evidence of coronavirus infection from the 1889 pandemic. Unlike bacteria, which can sometimes be found in preserved tissue samples from historical periods, viruses are much harder to detect in old specimens. Dr. Peter Palese, a flu researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, has pointed out that while the similarities between the 1889 pandemic and COVID-19 are interesting, .
Some researchers are actively searching for preserved lung tissue samples from people who died during the 1889 pandemic, hoping to find direct evidence of what virus caused the illness. If they could find and analyze such samples, it might finally resolve this 130-year-old medical mystery.
Applying This Historical Knowledge Today
Whether the 1889 pandemic was caused by influenza or coronavirus (or bacteria), it offers important lessons for how we prepare for and respond to future pandemics. The rapid global spread of the disease showed how modern transportation networks could accelerate the transmission of infectious diseases, a lesson that remains relevant in our age of air travel and global commerce.
The pandemic also demonstrated the importance of clear, accurate public health communication. The sensationalized and often contradictory newspaper reports of 1889 created confusion and panic that may have made the crisis worse. Today, we still struggle with how to provide the public with timely, accurate information about evolving health threats without creating unnecessary alarm.
The social and economic disruptions caused by the 1889 pandemic mirror many of the challenges we faced during COVID-19: overwhelmed healthcare systems, disrupted education, economic hardship, and the disproportionate impact on essential workers. These parallels suggest that certain patterns of pandemic impact may be consistent across different time periods and different types of diseases.
Perhaps most importantly, the ongoing scientific debate about what caused the 1889 pandemic reminds us that our understanding of infectious diseases continues to evolve. New technologies and analytical methods allow us to ask questions about historical events that previous generations of scientists couldn't address. This evolving understanding helps us better prepare for future health threats and provides hope that we'll continue to improve our ability to prevent, detect, and respond to pandemic diseases.
The story of the 1889 Russian flu pandemic is ultimately a story about how human societies adapt to unexpected challenges. Despite having far fewer scientific tools and public health resources than we have today, communities around the world found ways to cope with a global health crisis, support their most vulnerable members, and eventually return to normal life. Their experience offers both cautionary tales and inspiring examples of human resilience that remain relevant as we face new challenges in our interconnected world.
Sources and Additional Reading
- Berche P. (2022). The enigma of the 1889 Russian flu pandemic: A coronavirus?. Presse medicale (Paris, France : 1983), 51(3), 104111.
- Brüssow, H., & Brüssow, L. (2021). Clinical evidence that the pandemic from 1889 to 1891 commonly called the Russian flu might have been an earlier coronavirus pandemic. Microbial biotechnology, 14(5), 1860–1870.
- The Influenza Epidemic. (1892). British medical journal, 1(1624), 355–357.
- Suter, J., Devos, I., Matthes, K. L., & Staub, K. (2024). The health and demographic impacts of the "Russian flu" pandemic in Switzerland in 1889/1890 and in the years thereafter. Epidemiology and infection, 152, e174.
- Patterson KD. Pandemic and epidemic influenza, 1830-1848. Soc Sci Med. 1985;21(5):571-80. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90042-5. PMID: 3901279.
- Kousoulis A. A. (2023). The 1889-90 flu pandemic in Greece: a social, cultural and economic history with lessons for the 21st century. Le infezioni in medicina, 31(3), 411–420.
- Kempińska-Mirosławska, B., & Woźniak-Kosek, A. (2013). The influenza epidemic of 1889-90 in selected European cities--a picture based on the reports of two Poznań daily newspapers from the second half of the nineteenth century. Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 19, 1131–1141.
- Brüssow H. (2021). What we can learn from the dynamics of the 1889 'Russian flu' pandemic for the future trajectory of COVID-19. Microbial biotechnology, 14(6), 2244–2253.
- Honigsbaum M. (2011). The 'Russian' influenza in the UK: lessons learned, opportunities missed. Vaccine, 29 Suppl 2, B11–B15.
- A. Valleron, A. Cori, S. Valtat, S. Meurisse, F. Carrat, & P. Boëlle, Transmissibility and geographic spread of the 1889 influenza pandemic, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107 (19) 8778-8781, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000886107 (2010).
- Vijgen, L., Keyaerts, E., Moës, E., Thoelen, I., Wollants, E., Lemey, P., Vandamme, A. M., & Van Ranst, M. (2005). Complete genomic sequence of human coronavirus OC43: molecular clock analysis suggests a relatively recent zoonotic coronavirus transmission event. Journal of virology, 79(3), 1595–1604.
- Vlasova, A. N., & Saif, L. J. (2021). Bovine Coronavirus and the Associated Diseases. Frontiers in veterinary science, 8, 643220.
- Shaw, B., & Gatherer, D. (2023). Candidate historical events for the emergence of Human Coronavirus OC43: A critical reassessment of the molecular evidence. PloS one, 18(5), e0285481.