Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It

by Gina Kolata

How could they ignore the possibility that the Fort Dix flu outbreak was a first sounding of another disastrous occurrence of the 1918 flu? If it was, they had no time to waste. In the years since 1918, medical researchers had learned to isolate and identify flu viruses and they had learned to make vaccines. Yes, it took months to make a flu vaccine. But perhaps the Fort Dix incident was a godsend, a warning that came early enough so that a 1918-type disaster might be averted. If a flu virus was going to burn through the population, leaving huge swathes of dead young people behind, it should show up as an epidemic the next fall, when new flu strains, having emerged the year before, would take over. That meant that if an unprecedented effort was made, companies might be able to manufacture enough vaccine to protect all Americans against the new swine flu. There were a few obvious problems, including a logistical one: No one had ever attempted to vaccinate an entire population against the flu and it was hard to even imagine making so much vaccine. The other problem was scientific: The data thus far were so paltry that they could hardly justify making such a major decision.