COURSE – THE 1918 INFLUENZA PANDEMIC – 04.1

The influenza pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in human history, infected at least 500 million people — about one-third of the world’s population at the time — and killed an estimated 50 million of its victims, including some 675,000 Americans and 50,000 Canadians. While it claimed three times as many lives as were lost in the First World War, it has been overshadowed by that struggle and known as “the forgotten pandemic”. Certainly coverage of the pandemic was suppressed for fear it would demoralize the Great War effort. What can we learn about its causes, its spread, and the worldwide efforts to control this deadly virus that might aid in the present struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic?