The 1918 Spanish Flu

Thanks to television, books and movies, exotic viruses like Ebola virus and Hantavirus excite more fear in people than the common influenza virus. Yet flu is the mutant genius of the viral world, constantly changing its structure and eluding human immunity. In fact, the constant changing structure of the flu virus paves the way for the mass devastation of pandemics - epidemics that infect the entire globe.²³

Although flu has existed as long as man, and a pandemic was recorded in 1580, the population growth and international travel of modern times have ratcheted up the incidence and likelihood of infectious plagues. In fact, the 20th century has spawned the worst infectious scourge in human history, the Spanish Flu of 1918.²⁴