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I Survived, The staggering statistics associated with pandemics sometimes makes it difficult to remember that each number represents a single, human life. In this section, survivors share their intimate recollections of either their own illness or that of a loved one. All these storytellers are 90-plus years of age and they have carried with them for a lifetime their memories of the 1918 flu pandemic.

War Stories, The first cases of illness from the 1918 flu pandemic in the United States were reported from Fort Riley, Kansas on March 11 when an Army private became ill; complaining of fever, sore throat, and headache. Military personnel were greatly impacted by the virus and many young recruits were dead from the flu before they ever saw combat.

Plantings, That's the way one storyteller described his job of burying those who had died from the flu. There was a shortage of coffins and the dead had to be put in the ground as soon as possible to prevent the spread of infection. No eulogies. No choirs singing. No services. The lack of ceremony for the dead in 1918 left a lasting impression on the survivors for years to come.

Additional H7N9 Cases Reported in China; CDC receives virus isolate.

1957 Flu Pandemic, The 1957 flu pandemic was deadly, but milder than the 1918 event. The virus caused an estimated 70,000 deaths in the United States. The seven stories presented in this section are retold by survivors from New York to California.

CDC A-Z Index

CDC A-Z Index