Un-remembered but Unforgettable: The ‘Spanish Flu’ Pandemic

Abstract

Worldwide, during the years 1918-19, the 'Spanish Flu' pandemic is estimated to have killed between 50 and 100 million people. The long-term repercussions of the 'Spanish Flu' lasted for generations, and have had both positive and negative impacts on societal resilience. The 'Spanish Flu' pandemic represented a huge defeat for science and medicine, and as such was consigned to a sort of collective cultural amnesia until the subject again became an urgent military necessity. The lessons of the 'Spanish Flu' pandemic were largely ignored for many decades, and, to the extent that serious public health concerns are frequently neglected at the expense of military objectives in modern war zones, they are still being ignored, with potentially catastrophic consequences. This chapter discusses the pandemic, its impacts and effects, as well as its implications for modern public health practice. In attempting to control infectious disease outbreaks, public health professionals still have to balance the safety of the many against the rights and liberties of the few. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)