Ominously, the influenza of 1918 came in two waves. The first lasted a few months from February 1918 when the coastal town of San Sebastien in Spain started to come down with flu. People weren't dying at this stage, they experienced just a few days of illness, but nevertheless the rate of spread was unusually fast.

March 15th at Fort Riley in Kansas and an Army private reported flu symptoms, soon to be followed that day by a hundred similar cases. Suddenly cases were popping up everywhere. In San Quentin prison during April and May, 500 of 1,900 prisoners become ill. It spreads to France and the UK; where King George V catches what has become known as 'Spanish Flu'. A German general complains that it is affecting his countries battle plans due to sick men. And yet although the sufferers are ill it seems no different from any 'normal' flu. Fever, sore throats and headaches; yes. But not abnormal death rates. Certainly unusual and out of the ordinary in its rate of spread, but not catastrophic. Not by a long shot. That would come later.

Influenza Viruses

Then, as quick as it had descended it seemed to dissappear. Just another passing fad in a world burdened with death through war. And yet the vision of death was destined to resurface in its second wave, and this time things would be different. It was still unusually contagious, but this time the cough and the high fever were accompanied with lung problems in about 80% of the cases. The lungs would either be weakened and attacked by bacteria, or else they would fill with fluid which would affect the capacity of the patient to breathe. The patients would also suffer from pneumonia. The death rate was now 25 times that of the earlier outbreak (2.5% as opposed to 0.1%), and the period to recover, even if you didn't die, was longer. By August much of Asia and Japan were affected, and troop movements as a result of the war were helping it to spread around the world. In late August it came to the United States via a group of sailors coming into Boston, and soon it was spreading like wildfire. First west into Massachusetts, and then into other Army camps. By September it was rampant. On the 28th of September 1918, 200,000 people gathered in Philadelphia for a rally, and within days 635 new cases were reported. In October 1918 alone 195,000 Americans would die from this new strain of influenza, and before it dissappeared in mid-1919 around 800,000 Americans would be dead.