Informative Essay On Influenza

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Despite being one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918 has been nearly forgotten. This unusually deadly influenza virus killed 675,000 people in the United States, a greater number than U.S. troop deaths in World War I (116,516) and World War II (405, 399) combined. Roughly 40 million people died worldwide from the early spring of 1918 through the late spring of 1919.

Champaign-Urbana and the University of Illinois were not immune to the pandemic. Theaters and other public spaces closed their doors as a precaution against spreading the disease J. Howard Beard’s emergency plan for epidemics began at the Health Services Station in late 1918, extending their hospital capacity from 30 to 400 beds.
In a letter to Dean Clark after the death of her son, L.J. Haley wrote: “I assure you I appreciate the sympathy you extend to me in the loss of my dear son Milo. In his death I received a blow that I am afraid I will never
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recover from. We had planned so much for him and wrapped our whole future in him. I thank you for the interest you took in his welfare and I feel that he received the best care possible under the circumstances.” Elmer Eson, of Freeport, Illinois, died December 6, 1918 at the University hospital from pneumonia, following an attack of influenza. He was a member of Company I and Sigma Pi, and the fifteenth influenza victim at the University. Five months after his death, Dean Clark
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Clarke continued to correspond with the family about financial issues. In April of 1919, John B. Eson, father of Elmer, wrote a grievous letter requesting that Dean Clarke halt the repeated requests for debt

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