How the Spanish Flu Worked

In this episode, Josh and Chuck explore the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide and infected about a third of the global population in less than a year. They trace the origin of the virus to Haskell County, Kansas, where it spread through military camps during World War I before mutating in Europe and returning to the US in a far deadlier form, discussing the three waves of infection, the unusual characteristics that made it so lethal to young, healthy adults, and why this catastrophic pandemic has largely been overshadowed in popular history by the concurrent world war.