The Lazarus Strain

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In 1918 up to forty million people died of a disease that circled the globe — more than died in the Great War itself and more than died of bubonic plague in the epidemic that swept across Europe in the 14 century. They died of a particularly virulent form of pneumonia, which caused their lungs to fill with blood and mucous until they could no longer breathe and effectively drowned in their own secretions. In the United States, the disease affected so many people — one quarter of the entire population — that in certain areas there was a shortage of coffins and gravediggers. Panic was such that travel between certain towns and cities was banned without certified permission. The epidemic alone was responsible for lowering the average life expectancy in the USA by ten years. The disease was influenza.

It is estimated that one fifth of the world’s population was affected by the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, its spread mediated by troops returning home from the war in Europe. Of those American soldiers who fell in Europe, half their number succumbed to influenza rather than enemy fire.

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