 Tweet 412 BC Major epidemic of a disease (which, although not called influenza, probably was influenza) recorded by Hippocrates. 1357 AD The term, influenza, from the Italian word meaning 'influence,' was coined. Popular belief at that time blamed the development of flu on the influence of the stars. 1485 'Sweating sickness,' a flu-like malady, sickens hundreds of thousands of people in Britain. The Lord Mayor of London, his successor and six aldermen die. The Royal Navy cannot leave port due to the sickness of sailors. Doctors prescribe tobacco juice, lime juice, emetics, cathartics and bleeding as treatments for the disease. 1580 First recorded influenza pandemic begins in Europe and spreads to Asia and Africa. 1700s Influenza pandemics in 1729-1730, 1732-1733, 1781-1782. 1781 Major epidemic causing high mortality among the elderly spreads across Russia from Asia. 1830 Major epidemic causing high mortality among the elderly spreads across Russia from Asia. 1831, 1833-1834 Influenza pandemics hit. 1847-1848 Influenza sweeps through the Mediterranean to southern France and then continues across in Western Europe. 1878 A disease causing high mortality in poultry becomes known as the 'fowl plague.' Fowl plague is now called HPAI avian influenza. 1889-1890 The 'Russian flu' spreads through Europe and reaches North America in 1890. 1900 Major epidemic. 1918-1919 The 'Spanish Flu' circles the globe (though some experts think it may have started in the U.S.). Caused by an H1N1 flu virus, it is the worst influenza pandemic (and subsequently, epidemic) to date. There are more than half a million U.S. deaths; worldwide death estimates range from 20 million to 100 million. According to WebMD, 'The pandemic comes before the era of antibiotics -- which are now essential in treating the secondary bacterial infections that often kill flu-weakened patients -- so it's difficult to say whether this flu would have the same dreadful impact in the modern world. But it is a very frightening disease, with very high death rates among young, previously healthy adults.' 1924 The first outbreak of HPAI avian influenza -- bird flu -- in the U.S. It does not spread among humans. Late 1920s Richard Shope shows that swine influenza can be transmitted through filtered mucous, implying that influenza is caused by a virus. 1933 Sir Christopher Andrewes, Wilson Smith and Sir Patrick Laidlaw isolate the first human influenza virus. 1940 Frank Macfarlane Burnet grows influenza on a laboratory growth system (embryonated chicken eggs). 1941 George K. Hirst discovers that influenza causes hemagglutination of red blood cells, thus providing a new method of assaying for the virus 1955 Sir Christopher Andrewes, along with Burnet and Bang, coins the term 'myxovirus' for the influenza family. 1957-1958 The 'Asian Flu' causes the second pandemic of the 20th century. Caused by an H2N2 virus, it begins in China and kills one million people worldwide, including 70,000 Americans. 1968-1969 The 'Hong Kong Flu' causes the last flu pandemic. It was caused by an H3N2 virus and killed some 34,000 Americans. The relatively low death toll is thought to have been due to two factors. First, the virus contained the N2 protein humans had been exposed to before. Second, an H3 virus circulated around the turn of the century, giving some immune protection to elderly people who had caught the flu back then. Mid-1970s Researchers realize that enormous pools of influenza virus continuously circulate in wild birds. 1976 Swine flu breaks out among a handful of soldiers stationed at Fort Dix, N.J. One dies. It's an H1N1 virus, and health officials worry that they are seeing the return of the 1918 H1N1 Spanish Flu pandemic. As the virus is circulating among U.S. pigs, President Gerald Ford calls for a crash vaccination program. Despite delays, a vaccine is made and a quarter of the U.S. population is inoculated. There were 25 deaths from a rare paralytic complication of the vaccination (Guillain-Barre syndrome). Nobody else died of swine flu, which never caused an epidemic. 1977 Mild Russian influenza epidemic occurs. 1983 The second HPAI outbreak occurs in the U.S. Caused by an H5N2 virus, it does not spread among humans. However, this severe poultry epidemic strikes chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is finally brought under control after the destruction of 17 million birds. 1988 Wiley, Wilson and Skehel determine the location of the antigenic sites on the hemagglutinin molecule by X-ray crystallography. 1996 HPAI H5N1 bird flu is isolated from a farmed goose in Guangdong, China. May 1997 The first person known to catch H5N1 bird flu dies in Hong Kong. The virus has been causing an epidemic among poultry in the city. November-December 1997 There are 18 new human cases of H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong, 12 with direct contact with infected poultry. Six people die. Officials destroy 1.4 million chickens and ducks. Jan. 5, 2003 Health authorities in Vietnam inform the WHO office in Hanoi of an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in 11 previously healthy children hospitalized in Hanoi, with the most recent hospital admission on Jan. 4. Seven cases were fatal and two patients remain critically ill. A 12th case, a sibling of one of the Hanoi cases, died of a respiratory illness in a provincial hospital. 