University of Michigan: Influenza Encyclopedia 1918-1919

The Motor Corps of St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross on ambulance duty during the influenza epidemic, October 1918. Photo Credit – UM Influenza Encyclopedia Image Gallery

 

 

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I confess to being a major medical history buff, a predilection that began nearly a half century ago when I read James Leasor’s account of two pivotal years in the history of London (1665-1666) - which began with the Great plague, and ended with the Fire of London.

 

 

In the 1970s, after the Swine Flu scare of 1976 (see my account of that event in Deja Flu, All Over Again.), I often asked my patients (who had been teenagers or young adults in 1918) about their memories of the 1918 Spanish Flu.

 

And I’m currently reading (a gift from a friend: thanks, John)  Infectio., a fascinating history of infectious diseases and their early treatments, by Werner Schreiber and Friedrich Karl Mathys.

 

So I was particularly pleased to get a head’s up overnight from Eric Starbuck that the University of Michigan’s Center for the History Of Medicine has published their impressive digital encyclopedia (containing more than 18,000 historical documents) of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.

 

 

I’m just beginning to explore this site, but I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far.  Not only as a chronicle of the great pandemic, but also as a glimpse back at life in the United States nearly 95 years ago.

With this much to explore, I fear I won’t get much work done today.  But nevertheless . . .

 

Highly recommended.

Related Post:

history

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• Novel Viruses & Chekhov’s Gun
• Pseudo Pandemics And Viral Interlopers
• UK: Revisiting An Earlier Flu Epidemic

1918

• Diary From The HMNZ Tahiti During The 1918 Pandemic
• CIDRAP: Conflicting Theories On the 1918 Pandemic
• Study: Impact Of 1918 Pandemic In Mexico
• The 1918 – 2009 H1N1 Connection
• John Barry Discusses The Pandemic Of 2009

Pandemic

• EID Book Review - Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
• Study: Self-Administered Vaccines In Adults
• BMC: Exploring The `Age Shift’ Of Pandemic Mortality
• WHO Europe: Revising Pandemic Preparedness Plans
• Paper: Are We Prepared For A Pandemic In Low Resource Communities?
• CSIRO: The Quest For Flu Resistant Poultry
• Lancet: Public Response To The H1N1 Pandemic Of 2009
• Pathogens At the Gate
• NIAID Video: How Influenza Pandemics Occur
• IDSA: Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Preparedness
• An Increasingly Complex Flu Field
• Study: Kids, Underlying Conditions, And The 2009 Pandemic Flu
• Hong Kong Updates Their Pandemic Preparedness Plan
• Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . .
• Study: Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices During The 2009 Pandemic
• Novel Viruses & Chekhov’s Gun
• MIT: Contagion Dynamics Of International Air Travel
• Pandemic Uncertainties
• Lancet: Estimating Global 2009 Pandemic Mortality
• PNAS: H1N1 Vaccination Produced Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains
• Lancet: David Fedson On Statins For Pandemic Influenza
• H5N1: Now That They’ve Broken The `Species Barrier’
• Downton Abbey Rekindles An Old HCW Debate
• Study: The Effects Of School Closures During A Pandemic

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