The Burrill Report (May 1, 2009) A Medical Historian Discusses What The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 Can Teach Us(.MP3,9.25 Mb)
As the swine flu spreads across more and more countries, the number of people infected with the disease for now remains low. But public health officials are worried that a deadly pandemic may be unfolding before our eyes. The World Health Organization has pushed its influenza pandemic alert to the second highest level and instructed all countries to immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plan. Alexandra Stern, associate director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, has conducted extensive research into the response of U.S. cities to the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. We talked to Stern about the challenges of containing a pandemic in our interconnected world today, about why efforts to contain the 1918 pandemic failed in some major cities, and what lessons public health officials can learn from the past.
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