The Road to Death is a long march beset with all evils, and the heart fails little by little at each new terror.

The bones rebel at each step.

The mind sets up its own bitter resistance, and to what end?

The barriers sink one by one,

and no covering of the eyes

shuts out the landscape of disaster,

nor the sight of crimes committed there.

Catherine Ann Porter,

pale horse, pale rider.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you.

Music Episode 172, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Part 2

In last week's episode, I described the first documented outbreak of the 1918 influenza at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas.

Thousands of soldiers grew ill, 46 died. That's an unusually high death rate for

influenza, which is typically not fatal. Now, you've probably had influenza yourself. You know

how it goes. A person sick with influenza is typically bedridden for three or four days with a high fever,

then the fever breaks, but the patient can expect to feel weak and tired for an additional one to

two weeks before fully recovering.

A small percentage of influenza victims die from the disease or from some secondary infection brought on by

the disease. In the years leading up to 1918, an outbreak of influenza might claim the lives

of as many as one out of every thousand infected. Thankfully, this number is even lower in our time.

Those at the highest risk of complications from influenza are smokers, people with other diseases of the lungs and respiratory system, and those with compromised immune systems.

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