all fall down

Story on the radio this afternoon made me think about Magazine Man's ghost story (shiver) and wonder if the ghost might have been one of the unfortunate millions who fell victim to the flu pandemic of 1918. Seems that scientists have finally determined the structure of the 1918 flu virus which killed some 20 million people.

This is one of those stories that always seizes my interest -- I remember reading when they had isolated the virus from lung tissue of soldiers bodies found preserved in permafrost (soldiers were the flu's first vector -- it entered the US through Fort Devens, MA). I spent an afternoon while waiting to be called for jury duty devouring Gina Kolata's book on the subject.

Reading about the epidemic from 85 years distance is mind-boggling enough, but dip into some of the primary sources and try to put yourself there...

Then think about how we are just as vulnerable now to an epidemic like this -- even more so given how mobile society is today.