"A Fire That Scorches Us All"

stories and resources related to the 1918 influenza pandemic and to modern research into the character of the 1918 virus

M.A.J. McKenna, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Copyright on all stories linked from this page is retained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution unless otherwise indicated. Reporting on modern research into the 1918 viral strain was supported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; reporting on the 1918 experience was supported by the John and James Knight Foundation of Miami through the Michigan Journalism Fellows Program of the University of Michigan.

Stories:

• October 1997: The 1918 experience, the Taubenberger team, the Duncan team, the continued problem of pandemic planning.
• December 1997: The Hong Kong H5N1 outbreak.
• February 1998: Johan Hultin's Alaska expedition.
• August 1998: The Duncan team prepares to go to Svalbard.
• August 1998: The Duncan team in Svalbard.
• November 1999: Samples from Svalbard unexpectedly yield results.
• February 2001: Taubenberger and colleagues try a 1918 gene in lab mice.

Websites dealing with 1918:

• home page of the Duncan team
• first paper announcing the Taubenberger team's work (requires registration)
• Taubenberger's paper for the American Society of Microbiology, summing up their work to date (1999)
• images of the epidemic in the U.S. military, Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine
• oral histories of the impact of the flu in: Camp Funston (later Fort Riley), Ks.; Monessen, Pa.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Bear Creek, Mt.; Wales, Ak.
• "Influenza 1918," The American Experience, PBS
• "Pandemic," BBC/CBC

Other resources:

• home page of the flu branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• flu fact sheet, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
• FluNet, World Health Organization
• site devoted to the H5N1 Hong Kong outbreak