To this day we cannot accurately determine the birthplace of the influenza disease, but we do know that there have been 31 epidemics dating back as far as the 16 century. One of the most devastating epidemics of influenza originated in the United States in 1918. This pandemic claimed the lives of approximately 600,000 Americans, and between twenty and thirty million worldwide. The epidemic of 1918, which originated in the U.S., is said to have started on March 9, 1918 in Fort Riley, Kansas during a large dust storm. Fort Riley, which housed 26,000 soldiers, reported the first case of influenza on the morning

The epidemic resulted in a great loss of life. Rather it was a force of nature or act of evil forces, it was a truly dark hour in the history of the United States and the World. This new anthrax scare that is running through our country has me wondering what if? We can only hope that in the future if this virus was to reappear that somehow we will be able to stop it.

One of the worst parts of influenza is our lack of knowledge about it. Even today there is no specific medical cure for the virus. The only treatments have been basically folk remedies. There are stories of mothers “insisting that their children snuff salt up their noses and wear goose grease poultices or bags of garlic-scented gum around their necks.” Rupert Blue, the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, stated, “The Health Service urges the public to remember that there is as yet no specific cure for influenza and that many of

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