Between
the summer of 1918 and the spring of 1919 a deadly strain
of influenza claimed the lives of 228,000 Britons.
Worldwide the death toll from 'Spanish' influenza was
simply unimaginable with between 50 million and 100m dead.
The victims turned blue, then black, drowning in the fluids
flooding their lungs.
‘Never
since the Black Death has such a plague swept over the face
of the world,' commented the Times,
'and
never, perhaps, has a plague been more stoically accepted.’
Based on interviews with survivors and the memoirs of
doctors and nurses who lived through the
outbreak,
Living With Enza is
the fascinating story of Britain’s ‘forgotten’ pandemic and
the continuing scientific effort to unravel the mystery of
its origins. For though the Great Flu has receded from
public memory, the threat of pandemic influenza has not
gone away. According to Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Sir
Liam Donaldson, a new pandemic is a matter of 'when, not
if.' ‘We can’t make this pandemic go away, because it’s a
natural phenomenon, it will come.’
‘A
wonderful and fitting memorial to the 50 million victims of
the 1918 influenza, as well as a deep exploration of human
character and science’ -John
Oxford, Professor of Virology, Queen Mary’s Medical
School