The Spanish Flu of 1918

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Websites

Bird Flu
A flurry of media hysteria about a forthcoming killer flu pandemic has sent the nation dashing down to the docs. What are the facts? Are we right to be worried?

The First World War
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/
For facts and figures on the First World War try this public information service site.

Influenza Pandemic of 1918
www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/
Stanford University offers an overview of the deadly virus alongside maps and graphs of the spread of the disease and the role that the war played alongside it.

Is Farming Good for our Health
How is the evolution of farming linked to the evolution of modern maladies?

SARS – Killer Bug
What is this deadly new virus, taking lives and alarming the world? Where did it come from? What are the symptoms? And how does it spread? Find out here.

Spanish Flu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Flu
Loads of good links and articles on the 1918 flu from the pages of the online community encyclopaedia.

World Health Organisation – Influenza
www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/en/
Read about pandemic preparations, global surveillance and the latest virus to hit the news.

Books

Flu: The story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it by Gina Kolata (Pan, 2001)
A scientific history of the great flu epidemic of 1918 that killed at least 40 million people. The author details the science and latest understanding of flu, examines the chances of a great epidemic recurring and explores what can be done to prevent it.
Buy this book

The Great Influenza: The epic story of the deadliest plague in history by John M Barry (Penguin, 2005)
Sweeping history that explores how the deadly confluence of biology and politics created conditions in which the virus thrived, killing more people than the First World War. Overcrowded military camps and wide-ranging troop deployments allowed the highly contagious flu to spread quickly yet the U.S. and other governments refused to shift priorities away from the war and, in effect, ignored the crisis.
Buy this book

Man and Microbes: Disease and plagues in history and modern times by Arno Karlen (Pocket Books, 1996)
A noted medical historian places recent outbreaks of deadly diseases in historical perspective, with accounts of other alarming and recurring diseases throughout history and of the ways in which humans have adapted.
Buy this book

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