Spanish Flu (1918-1920)

Notable Pandemics

The Spanish Flu is one of the deadliest flu pandemics that have ever occurred in history. Discovered in 1918, the Spanish Flu infected 500million people worldwide and killed roughly 20-50million people. This flu was first discovered in Europe and it quickly spread throughout the world. There were 2 waves of the Spanish flu that occurred, the first wave occurred in 1918 and was generally mild; individuals who contracted this flu were experiencing typical flu symptoms and the deaths reported were low. The second wave of the flu was highly contagious and dangerous; individuals who contracted this strain died within hours or days of exhibiting symptoms. At the time of the outbreak, there were no vaccines available to cure the disease, as a result many people died and had to wait out their symptoms to see if they would get better.