This Day in History: First Cases Reported in Deadly Influenza Pandemic (Sat., March 11)

This Day in History: , First Cases Reported in Deadly Influenza Pandemic.

March 11, 1918.

Private Albert Glitchell reported flu-like symptoms at the Fort Riley hospital in Kansas.

Hours later, more than 100 soldiers on the base reported symptoms. The virulent influenza spread to other army bases, prisons and then across the Atlantic, where World War I continued to rage.

The virus came to be known as Spanish flu.

The influenza was responsible for eight million deaths in Spain.

Even after the end of the war, Spanish flu continued to wreak international havoc.

28 percent of Americans became infected.

675,000 Americans died.

Worldwide, deaths due to the Spanish flu pandemic are estimated between 20 and 50 million