Fun Flu Facts for the Curious Mind
- The word "influenza" comes from the Italian influentia because people used to believe that the influence of the planets, stars and moon caused the flu- for only such universal influence could explain such sudden widespread sickness.
- The cost of treating annual flu epidemics, including lost wages and productivity of workers, is billions of dollars each year in the United States alone.
- In 1933, British researched Wilson Smith, Christopher Andrews, and Patrick P. Laidlaw were the first to identify the human flu virus by experimenting with ferrets.
- Thomas Francis and Jonas Salk (who later developed the polio vaccine) developed the first flu vaccine in 1944.
 - There have been four major global flu pandemics since 1900.
- The most recent pandemic was the swine flu ("Novel H1N1 Influenza A")
- The last global pandemic was the Hone Kong Flu (1968-1969) which killed approximately one million people.
- The Asian flu pandemic (1957-1958) originated in China and is estimated to have killed between one and four million people.
- The Spanish flu pandemic (1918-1919) killed between 50-100 million people worldwide.
- The Spanish flu killed more Americans in one year than the combined total who died in battle during WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
- A town in Arizona once passed a law forbidding people to shake hands over fear of spreading germs.
 - The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The World Health Organization (WHO) renamed the swine flu the "Influenza A (H1N1)" in and effort to protect the pork industry.
- Flu viruses can live up to 48 hours on hard, nonporous surfaces such as stainless steel and up to 12 hours on cloth and tissues. They can remain infectious for about one week at human body temperature, over 30 days at freezing temperatures and indefinitely at temperatures below freezing.
- The flu vaccine in its various forms has been used for over 60 years and over 90 million Americans get a flu shot each year.
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