THE U.S. ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT AND THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918
One of the greatest challenges faced by the U.S. Army MedicalDepartment during World War I was the influenza pandemic of the fall of 1918.The pandemic struck the U.S. Army in the United States and Europe very hard,causing hundreds of thousands of admissions to Army hospitals and infirmariesand tens of thousands of deaths. A detailed record of the Medical Department'sresponse to the the influenza pandemic can be found in two officialsources: First, the Annual Report of The Surgeon General, U.S. Army, forFiscal Year 1919, part of the War Department Annual Reports to the Secretary ofWar, that was published in the fall of 1919 and constituted an early andincomplete account of the influenza-pneumonia pandemic; and Second, the variousvolumes of The Medical Department of the U. S. Army in the World War, the MedicalDepartment's official history of its activities during the war that wasproduced during the 1920s and form a more complete, but not definitive,account.
In this section we have reproduced excerpts on influenza andpneumonia from the 1919 Annual Report of The Surgeon General as well as from thevarious volumes of the official history.
1. Annual Report of The Surgeon General, 1919
2. Volumes of the official history, The Medical Departmentof the U.S.Army in the World War
In addition, the official history also contained a number ofdocuments that pertained to infectious diseases, influenza, and pneumonia. Whilecontained in the official volumes, these documents are listed separately forease of use and reference.
Documents:
Extracts on"AcuteInfectious Diseases and Their Control" [Including Influenza],from "Medical Department Promulgations," Volume I, The SurgeonGeneral's Office, TheMedical Department of the United States Army in the World War.
Anyone seeking a modern-day historical account and analysis ofthe Army Medical Department's experience with the influenza-pneumonia pandemicof World War I should consult Carol R. Byerly, Ph.D., Fever of War. TheInfluenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I. New York UniversityPress, 2005.
John T. Greenwood, Ph.D.
Chief, Office of Medical History
Directorate of Health Care Operations
Office of The Surgeon General, U.S. Army
Falls Church, Virginia
