The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

committee of the American Public Health Association stated that any type of gathering of people involving mixing of bodies and sharing of breath in crowded rooms was dangerous. It advised that saloons, dance halls, and cinemas should be closed and public funerals prohibited as unnecessary assemblies. The influenza pandemic spread worldwide through 1918‐1919, during the later phases of the war. Military populations were particularly at risk, with many men living in close quarters. Even more significantly, the movement of troops contributed to spread the disease from military to civilian populations, from region to region, and from continent to continent. The net result was a devastating global pandemic that probably killed more people than the plague of the 14th century. In 6 months, in