The University of Virginia Hospital, circa 1917.
Image Courtesy the Holsinger Studio Collection, University of Virginia Library.
 

This article was written by Emily Bowden, and edited by Kimberley Barker.

This Fall marks the centennial of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. The outbreak of so-called Spanish flu that devastated Charlottesville and Albemarle County in the autumn of 1918 was part of a much wider pandemic. The origins of the pandemic are still unclear; however, it is widely believed that the first major outbreaks occurred in August 1918 in Massachusetts, France, and Sierra Leone. Not long after, the first reported case of influenza in Virginia was recorded on September 13, 1918, and the virus soon spread across the Commonwealth.

Spanish flu reached Charlottesville and Albemarle County by the end of September 1918. In the following months, 5,000 residents, nearly one seventh of the region’s population, would become infected with influenza, and 200 people would die from it. Doctors, nurses, and volunteers throughout central Virginia worked tirelessly during the pandemic. While no effective treatments for influenza existed at the time, patients who were kept clean, warm, and well-fed had a better chance of surviving the flu and related opportunistic infections.

To learn more about the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and its effects on Charlottesville and Albemarle, visit the new exhibit on display in the lobby of the Health Sciences Library. The exhibit was created by 4th year UVA medical student J. Andrew Legan in conjunction with the Hook Scholars Program in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities at the School of Medicine and with Historical Collections & Services at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. The exhibit will be up until December 10, 2018.

Two upcoming presentations will also delve into the history of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. On October 31, Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger will speak on “Decoding the Genome of the 1918 Influenza Virus,” and on November 14, poet Ellen Bryant Voigt will present a program titled “Voices in Remembrance of the 1918 Influenza.” Both of these events are part of the weekly Medical Center Hour series, which is held throughout the semester on Wednesdays from 12-1PM in the Pinn Hall Conference Center Auditorium. For more information on Medical Center Hour, visit the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities’ website.

Don’t forget to get your flu shot this fall! The UVA Fall 2018 Flu Shot Schedule is available here.