The story in brief
A country doctor in Kansas warns of a flu that kills the young, and nobody listens. The war carries it around the world, censors hide it, and Spain gets the blame. Then it comes back, deadlier: Philadelphia holds a parade, trucks carry Rio de Janeiro’s dead, and a disease hunter from Manguinhos takes charge of a city.
The chapters
-
Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
Why Spanish?
A country doctor warns, an army camp falls sick, and the world blames the one country that told the truth.
Sources: Public Health Reports (5 April 1918); The Spanish press of May 1918; CDC
-
Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
The Parade
Two American cities, one virus, and a parade that should never have marched.
Sources: Hatchett, Mecher and Lipsitch, PNAS (2007); Markel et al., JAMA (2007); The Camp Devens letter (1918)
-
Chapter 3 · 5 min
The City That Stopped
A mail ship docks, a health chief calls it plain influenza, and trucks carry the dead of Rio.
Sources: Fiocruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz; The Rio de Janeiro press of 1918
-
Chapter 4 · 5 min
The Doctor from Manguinhos
A disease hunter with no cure takes charge of a city, and a president-elect never takes office.
Sources: Fiocruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz; Agência Senado; The Rio de Janeiro press of 1918 and 1919
-
Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Virus in the Ice
A Carnival, a new health service, and a scientist who digs into the Alaskan ice to bring the killer back.
Sources: Taubenberger et al., Science (1997); Tumpey et al., Science (2005); CDC; WHO; Law 3.987 of 1920
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- Loring MinerCountry Doctor · Haskell County, Kansas · The First Warning
- Max StarkloffHealth Commissioner · St. Louis · Closed the City Early
- The Nurses of 1918Brazilian Red Cross and Beyond · Care Was the Only Cure
- The Scientists of ManguinhosOswaldo Cruz Institute · Rio de Janeiro · Hunting an Invisible Cause
- Johan HultinPathologist · Brevig Mission, 1951 and 1997 · Brought the Virus Back from the Ice
- Carlos ChagasDisease Hunter · Director of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute · Led Rio Through the Flu
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “Invisible Killers”. By the end of it, you can tell how quarantine, public health and radiation rules were born from the people who saw the danger first.
Stories in this journey
- The Black Death: A Third of Europe
- The Spanish Flu: The Flu That Hid Behind a War
- Cesium-137: The Blue Glow of Goiânia
Sources
- Public Health Reports (1918)
- Fiocruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz
- Hatchett et al., PNAS (2007)
- Markel et al., JAMA (2007)
- Taubenberger et al. (1997)
- Tumpey et al. (2005)
