Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
One hundred years ago, the 1918 flu pandemic brought worldwide illness and an unprecedented number of deaths as a new flu strain met a health system already struggling under the burdens of World War I. After an initial outbreak early in 1918, influenza swept through crowded U.S. military camps in September 1918, and from there was carried into cities and towns both large and small. In an era without seasonal flu vaccine, the toll in lives was especially heavy. More than 6,000 Mississippians died – most in just the first weeks of the pandemic. Children under 5 and young adults, a group usually resilient to flu, died in the greatest numbers. In October 1918 alone, 9,800 flu cases were reported in the state. To contain the spread of flu, public gatherings were forbidden, and students were restricted to campus by the State Board of Health, but the rapidly spreading disease would go on to become the deadliest flu outbreak in U.S. history.
The 1918 flu pandemic led directly to efforts to create an effective vaccine to prevent flu. By the 1940s the first true flu vaccine became available, with protection against additional strains of flu added over the years. Since then, seasonal flu vaccine has become the standard for protecting health and lives. No flu season has come close to the severity of the 1918 pandemic, but the constantly changing flu virus means that flu severity will always be unpredictable.
Seasonal flu vaccination affords the best known protection against flu.
Get flu vaccinations for children at any county health department, from your physician, or at a pharmacy as soon as you can for best protection this flu season. See our website for more about flu protection and flu vaccination.
