flu that spread over a large area in 1918
1918 flu pandemic The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus.[1] It infected 500 million people around the world,[2] including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (three to five percent of the world's population),[3] making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.[4][5][6]
Black Death in England During the first half of 1349 the Black Death spread northwards. A second front opened up when the plague arrived by ship at the Humber, wherefrom it spread both south and north.[35] In May it reached York, and during the summer months of June, July and August, it ravaged the north.[36] Certain northern counties, like Durham and Cumberland, had been the victim of violent incursions from the Scots, and were therefore left particularly vulnerable to the devastations of the plague.[37] Pestilence is less virulent during the winter months, and spreads less rapidly.[38] The Black Death in England had survived the winter of 1348â€“49, but during the following winter it gave in, and by December 1349 conditions were returning to relative normalcy.[39] It had taken the disease approximately 500 days to traverse the entire country.[40]