Saturday, March 11 — One of the most devastating public health crises in history hit the U.S. on this date 99 years ago. The first cases of what was called “Spanish flu” were reported among soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas. Then it went viral in the worst sense of the word. By 1920, nearly one-in-four Americans had suffered from this strain of the flu, killing about 600,000. Worldwide, estimates put the death toll up at 50 million or more. Even less dramatic strains of flu, like the recent Zika virus, can be deadly. Confronting such health issues are some 6,800 medical laboratories in the U.S. today, along with 114,000 medical scientists and over 250,000 clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.
You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, here.
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