The Great Influenza

In January and February of 1918, in Haskell County, Kansas, Dr. Loring Miner noticed that several patients in the rural area he treated were suffering from strong headaches and body aches, high fevers, and nonproductive coughs. He determined that it was likely a particularly virulent strain of influenza and took blood, urine, and sputum samples from his patients so he could test them in his laboratory. He received no assistance from the federal government despite his requests for help, but by March the disease seemed to vanish. Still, he wrote an article for Public Health Reports about what he had seen. The virus might have been contained to Kansas were it not for the war. But soldiers living in Haskell County transferred to Camp Funston and spread the virus there, where it infected thousands of soldiers. Because all influenza strains mutate, and because of the timing of the two outbreaks, it’s extremely likely someone from Haskell brought a mild strain of the virus to Camp Funston, where it mutated. Worse, Funston sent men to Europe to fight in World War I.