February 23, 2001
Flu is a fact of life; everybody gets it, complains about it and then recovers from it. In very exceptional circumstances it can prove fatal. In 1918, approximately 40 million people were killed by a strain of influenza which swept across the world. More people were killed in this 'great influenza pandemic' than in both world wars. 25 percent of the population of America died and the average life expectancy of an American dropped for this one year from 51 to 39 years. The epidemic has been virtually ignored by historians and scientists.
