However, we now know that these events represented the largest influenza virus pandemic on record: the catastrophic 1918 influenza pandemic. Since 1918, the world has experienced three additional influenza pandemics: the 1957 “Asian” influenza pandemic, the 1968 “Hong Kong” influenza pandemic and the 2009 so-called “swine flu” pandemic. These pandemics, although mild in comparison to that of 1918,
