The Great Influenza Pandemic: What Really Happened in 1918?

The word Influenza comes from mid–18th century Italian and literally means ‘influence’. This in turn came from the Medieval Latin word influentia (again meaning influence). “Viral” influenza was informally first mentioned as being behind America’s 1918 influenza pandemic not by a direct study of the disease in humans, but rather from studies on animal diseases. In 1918, J.S. Koen, a veterinarian, observed a disease in pigs which he believed to be the same disease as the now famous influenza Pandemic of 1918.<br>He felt that it was a virus. New evidence and older historical findings bring up the possibility that influenza doesn’t originate from a virus