26/2/1919 Influenza: the third wave

Influenza is continuing its march across the world, snatching life even in places that were barely touched by the war. The great and the meek alike are its victims (President Alves of Brazil has recently succumbed) but it is cutting a particular swathe through the ranks of the poor, who are often already weakened by poor diets and live in overcrowded conditions that are ideal for the virus’s transmission.

In Ireland a third wave of the pestilence has arrived. The Irish Times reports today on a shocking incident that recently occurred in Dublin. Neighbours of Frances Phelan noticed that she and her family had not been seen for some time. Breaking into the family’s apartment, they find Mrs Phelan dead in a bed, with her husband, son and sister-in-law huddled around her, all dying of the flu. Scenes of horror like this are being repeated all over the world.

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