Pandemic Then and Now: Lessons from the 1918 Influenza

As American soldiers mobilized for war in the spring of 1918, a handful of army physicians began noticing a worrisome influenza moving among their soldiers. Often resulting in a deadly pneumonia, it struck down previously healthy young men, sometimes with surprising rapidity. This timely article by professor/author Nancy K. Bristow, written in March 2020 for the National WWI Museum and Memorial, parallels the 1918 Influenza epidemic with the COVID-19/Coronavirus.outbreak.