Influenza 1918: The Worst Epidemic in American HistoryThis is the Powerful Historical Account of the Worst season of death in American history. Just as American troops were claiming victory in Europe during World War I, a silent killer spread across America and the world. Assumed by physicians to be a bacteria, the killer was in fact a culprit that medicine had not yet discovered: a virus. Unable to fight it, the whitecoated priests of modern medicine watched helplessly as the plague they called Spanish influenza exploded across the world. In America alone, some 25 million people fell ill and an estimated 675,000 died, all within a few tragic months. Influenza 1918 recounts the story of this crisis in our history. It tells of public officials who waffled and denied the danger, heroes who acted with forceful dedication, neighbors who closed their doors against neighbors, medical researchers whose pursuits led them deeper into the heart of the mystery, and countless volunteers who somehow kept the nation running. |
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Alfred Crosby American asafoetida aunt bacteria Barkley became began Black Black Death blood body Boston Brevig Mission Brownlow buried cause city's coffins Columba cough crowded dead death died of influenza died of Spanish disease doctor doughboys dying epidemic Europe father fell sick fever fluenza Fort Riley France Francis Russell French funeral German germs grave Hassler hospital Hultin human hundred infected Kaiser Kansas Katherine Anne Porter killed later Liberty Loan lives lungs Macon masks medicine million mother nation never numbers nurses October officials Pale Rider pandemic patients Pershing Pfeiffer's bacillus Philadelphia physicians pigs plague pneumonia Public Health Service quarantine Red Cross Royal Copeland Rupert Blue San Francisco scientists September sick with influenza soldiers Spanish influenza Spanish Lady streets Surgeon swine flu thousand tion Tonkel town U.S. Army vaccines victims viral virus viruses volunteers Washington week William women Woodrow Wilson