Did you know (and I am quoting):

"The influenza pandemic (i.e. worldwide epidemic) of 1918 was due to a
reemerging microbe... In that single winter of 1918-1919, it was
responsible for the deaths of approximately 25 MILLION people, 550,000
in the United States alone..."

This text appears on page 1046 of the latest issue (Sept 30, 1999) of
the New England Journal of Medicine 341:14, the most respected medical magazine, under the title: "Considerations for the 21st Century".

This flu epidemic of 1918 killed more people than World War I and
about half as much as World War II (55 million casualties)! It is noteworthy to point out that at the beginning of the century, the world population was only ONE billion. At today's scale, that would make a death toll of 100 MILLION.

So... Any question?

(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Thursday, September 30, 1999).