The Mystery of a 1918 Veteran and the Flu Pandemic – The Conversation

Read article - An opinion piece by Ruth Craig, emeritus professor of pharmacology and toxicology, about the 100-year anniversary of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed roughly 40 million people and was unusual in that it killed many healthy 20- to 40-year-olds, including millions of World War I soldiers. Craig examines what happened to a young man who immigrated to the U.S. and was lost during World War I, and in uncovering his story hypothesizes about why the immune systems of young adults in 1918 did not protect them from the flu.