Swine fluIn 1976, swine flu claimed the life of 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis. On the previous afternoon, this Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix, N.J. that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike. Yet, he died within 24 hours, killed by an influenza not seen since the Spanish flu of 1918-19 which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide. On 24 Mar 1976, following advice from medical experts, President Ford called for the U.S. to give swine flu vaccinations, a $135 million program of mass inoculation of the entire population. No comparable vaccination effort had ever been attempted in the U.S. before. Afterwards, research showed it would probably have been much less deadly than the Spanish flu.[Image: swine Influenza virus electron microscope view] |
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