Before AIDS or coronavirus, there was the Spanish Flu. In January 1918, as World War I raged on, a new and terrifying virus began to spread across the globe. In three successive waves, from 1918 to 1919, influenza killed more than 50 million people. German soldiers termed it Blitzkatarrh, British soldiers referred to it as Flanders Grippe, but world-wide, the pandemic gained the notorious title of "Spanish Flu". Nowhere on earth escaped: the United States recorded 550,000 deaths (five times its total military fatalities in the war) while European deaths totaled over two million. Were you aware that back in 1918 (108 years ago), the Flu pandemic infected about 1/3 of the world's population, leading to at least 50 million deaths worldwide?

Knowing Influenza infection can be deadly, especially for very young and older patients; do you take the Flu vaccine annually to protect yourself?