[FreedomCalls]

Just look at the spike in the death rate in 1918 from flu!

[AntiGuv]

I wish the late 60s were on your chart. That's when we had the last pandemic (I forget what year) although it wasn't nearly as severe as the 1918 episode.

[BJungNan]

Nice find on the graph.

[VOA]

Just look at the spike in the death rate in 1918 from flu!

Yeah, and it had a strange killing demographic...went more for young adults (20-40)
and less for infants and elderly.

There was a good episode on the subject on PBS's "Secrets of The Dead".

Looks like it may have originated in 1916 in a tight area of Europe cramped
with soldiers, pigs and fowl (geese/ducks/chickens).
And killed more like 60 million, not 20-40 million.

[IrishCatholic]

Bookmark for later printing. The flu is nothing to sneeze at. The 1918 version was noted for the mortality rate of young otherwise healthy individuals. Every year the flu spreads around the world. You can't stop it. We have been lucky the strains have been mild. The flu is also highly mutable. If it becomes lethal this will no longer seem funny.
Remember it killed more that the first World War.