Spanish Flu - The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - Lessons from History

 

Pandemic influenza in 1918-1919 left an estimated 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 persons dead worldwide and an estimated 500,000 to 675,000 dead in the United States. Future pandemics of influenza are virtually certain, a prospect the recent outbreak of swine origin influenza has highlighted. Place your mouse on the image above to access the controls to watch Dr. Muth's recent lecture about circumstances surrouding the 1918 pandemic.

Also available are separate higher resolution images of the lecture's PowerPoint slides and a separate audio track. Click on the links below for alternate means of accessing the lecture materials.

 

References:

  • Barry, John, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, Penguin Books, 2005
  • The Great Pandemic - United States in 1918-1919, U.S. Dept of HHS, http://1918.pandemicflu.gov/index.htm
  • The American Experience: Influenza 1918 (PBS 1999), http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/index.html