American Experience: Influenza 1918 Series

Lectures curated around American Experience: Influenza, the story of the worst epidemic the United States has ever known.

Early in the morning of March 11, 1918, a young private reported to the Army hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of fever, sore throat, and headache. Then, another sick soldier appeared, then another and another. By noon, the hospital had more than one hundred cases; in a week, there were five hundred. Forty-eight soldiers died at Fort Riley that spring. No one knew why. Before it was over, the flu would kill more than 600,000 Americans — more than all the combat deaths of this century combined.

Related programs:

PBS NewsHour: H1N1 Flu: The Next Pandemic?
PBS NewsHour: WHO Declares Global Swine Flu Pandemic
NPR: Flu Pandemic Much Milder Than Expected
NPR: Swine Flu Hits Pandemic Level
NPR: When Is A Pandemic Not A Pandemic?

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Flu Pandemics in the Bay State: A 30-Minute History
Michael McGuill
October 27, 2009
00:34:34
Epidemiologist Michael McGuill looks back at the success and failure of measures to contain historic flu pandemics in Boston. The deadly flu pandemic of 1918 killed over 600,000 people in the United States and 45,000 in Massachusetts alone.
Avian Flu and Tomorrow's Pandemics
Bob Meyers
October 18, 2005
01:17:21
A panel of experts open discussions of increasing health risks in a globalized world by talking about possible future pandemics, including the Avian Flu.
Audio-only
Disease Du Jour: What Might Be Next?
Alfred DeMaria
November 16, 2004
01:20:28
A panel of public health experts examines the topic of infectious disease and offers some insights into this ever-changing aspect of medicine and our environment.
NOVA: Rx for Survival Series
NOVA: Rx for Survival Series
20 Lectures
Lectures curated around NOVA: Rx for Survival, which tells the compelling stories of global health champions and the communities they strive to protect.
Audio-only
Linked: Networks from Biology to the World Wide Web
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
September 27, 2005
01:16:36
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a Notre Dame University physics professor, explores the relationships of various kinds of complex networks from cells and epidemics, to the World Wide Web, with a bit of 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' in between.
Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action for the 21st Century
James Orbinski
October 21, 2009
00:59:29
Physician and humanitarian James Orbinski discusses his new book, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action for the Twenty-First Century. During his medical school days, James Orbinski journeyed to Rwanda on a year-long research trip.
Why We Must Rise to the Global Health Challenge
Philip J. Hilts
October 25, 2005
01:22:31
Philip J. Hilts, health and science reporter and author of the companion book for the PBS Rx for Survival series, speaks at a supplemental public outreach event sponsored by the series.
Global Health Series
Global Health Series
13 Lectures
Lectures curated around the issues and challenges of global health, and that examine the diseases that kill more people each year than conflict alone.