New study shows frailty was key factor in 1918 flu deaths, challenging narrative of indiscriminate virus

Researchers studied skeletons of 1918 flu victims and found the frail were most vulnerable to death.
This challenges the belief that the 1918 flu killed healthy and sick people equally.
The 1918 flu mortality curve was W-shaped, indicating high death rates in young adults regardless of health.
But the new study shows those young adults who were frail pre-infection were most likely to die.
The findings provide new evidence that frailty, not just age, determined likelihood of death from the 1918 flu.