FLU FACTS

The word “influenza” comes from the Italian influentia
because people used to believe that the influence of the
planets, stars, and moon caused the flu—for only such
universal influence could explain such sudden and
widespread sickness.

                       

The single deadliest flu pandemic in history was the Spanish
flu pandemic during 1918-1919. Occurring in the three waves
of increasing lethality, the Spanish flu killed more people
in 24 weeks than AIDS did in 24 years. It also killed more
people in one year than smallpox or the Black Plague did in
50 years.

                          

Flu viruses can live up to 48 hours on hard, nonporous
surfaces such as stainless steel and up to 12 hours on
cloth and tissues. They can remain infectious for about
one week at human body temperature, over 30 days at
freezing temperatures, and indefinitely at temperatures
below freezing.


Air travel has significantly increased the speed with which
diseases can spread. Most of the world’s great cities are
now within a few hours of each other. As SARS showed, a
virus that is in Hong Kong one day can be carried to any
point in Southeast Asia within three or four hours, to
Europe in 12 hours, and to North America in 18 hours.
Nearly 1.5 billion passengers travel by air every year.

                          

Some historians blame President Woodrow Wilson’s (1856-
1924) lingering case of the Spanish flu as the reason he
unexpectedly caved into stringent French demands for the
harsh peace terms that decimated Germany which, in turn,
led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and WWII (1939-1945).

                      

Thomas Francis and Jonas Salk (who later developed the
polio vaccine) developed the first flu vaccine in 1944.
These early vaccines often contained impurities that
produced fever, headaches, and other side effects. The flu
vaccine in its various forms has been used for over 60
years and over 90 million Americans get a flu shot each
year.