Spanish Flu

The ‘Spanish’ influenza of 1918 was the deadliest pandemic in history, killing as many as 50 million people worldwide. Canadian federal public health officials tried to prevent the disease from entering the country by implementing a maritime quarantine, as had been their standard practice since the cholera epidemics of 1832. But the 1918 flu was a different type of disease. In spite of the best efforts of both federal and local officials, up to fifty thousand Canadians died.

According to most experts, bird flu is coming. It's not a question of if, but when. In 1918 up to 50 million died in the Spanish Influenza outbreak; with increased global travel, this next pandemic could be even worse.

by Robert G Webster (Author)
When a new influenza virus emerges that is able to be transmitted between humans, it spreads globally as a pandemic, often with high mortality