lessons from the spanish flu

According to John R. LaMontagne, chief of infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was “the most devastating epidemic that we have ever had in history.” In fact, the Spanish Flu Pandemic is believed to have claimed approximately 22 million people all around the world, including Asia, Africa and Europe. An epidemic on such a large scale, that wreaked havoc in so many countries and pushed the health care system all around the globe to the brink of desperation, has to be looked into lest another flu outbreak occurs. And the possibility of such a recurrence is very high, considering the recent spate of events: Asian flu of 1957, Hong Kong flu of 1968, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003. Thus, our group decided on the Spanish Flu as our significant event as we realise that the battlefront against the influenza virus is not as impenetrable as we think it to be, considering recent outbreaks. We...