"The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, also known as Spanish Flu, claimed the lives of 675,000 Americans and as many as 40 million people worldwide. The roll among U.S. servicemen during WW1 was especially severe. "Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy. An estimated43,000 servicemen died of influenza." No part of America escaped this pandemic. Yet, each community in America was affected by, and reacted to, this disease in a unique way. This paper is an examination of the1918 Influenza epidemic in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and a comparison with the findings of other historians on the effects of the epidemic in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Particular attention will be given to the measures taken to curb the epidemic by the Board of Health in each of these cities. The effectiveness of these measures, and the controversies that arose in response to them, will also be examined." [from the introduction]
