1761: First known influenza pandemic from the Americas begins

Influenza is one of the diseases that Europeans brought to the New World. Unlike previous influenza epidemics, this one originates in the Americas in the spring and then spreads to Europe and the world. This viral strain, which causes inflammation of the larynx and trachea, first takes hold among settlers and Native peoples. Hundreds of Native peoples die.

Reaching Europe in the midst of the flourishing intellectual climate known as the Enlightenment, the pandemic is the first to be studied by many physicians and others, who communicate about it through European medical journals and books.

Theme

Epidemics

Region

California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest