Hello, EJY.
Congratulations on your excellent work.
I want to say some things about your piece with respect and friendliness.
Would it have been better to put the title Haskell County Flu, Camp Funston Flu, Kansas Flu, or American Flu? As you know very well, at that time (first quarter of 1918) in Europe, let alone Spain, there was no "pandemic" flu (there is always flu everywhere). It would be a more appropriate title, but it would not have been accurate.
Giving geographical labels to diseases is not very advisable And unfair, and most of the time, false. The history of medicine has many (bad) examples:
─The plague of Athens (Thucydides, 5th century BC) did not start in Athens (Greece).
─Antonine or Marcus Aurelius epidemic (2nd century) did not begin in Rome. Chroniclers say Seleucia, but its actual origin could be further South or East.
─The famous Constantinople plague (Justinian, 6th century) may have started in Africa.
─A question: Could Christopher Columbus carry the "pestíferas bubas" from New World to Spain? (Bubas was the 15th-century Spanish terminology for syphilis). Many scholars think European contagion happened after Columbus' sailors return to Spain. But nobody knows the origin. To name it French Disease and Naples Disease it is not a question related to epidemiology. It is a diplomatic war.
─Venetian plague (Boccaccio, Decameron, 14th century) was an authentic infection by Yersinia pestis. Its origin was not Italian. It came to Italy from outside.
─As you say, pandemic flu began in the United States of America (months before Gitchell's illness). American soldiers participating in the First World War brought the virus to France. Then, the epidemic spread throughout Europe and the world. Spain had no press censorship because it was not involved in the international war. But Spanish journals gave publicity to the fact. As a consequence, the country was forever burdened with the false label. It is a proven fact that no admit any discussion.
─There are many other examples: Ebola (an African river), West Nile, Rhin Valley, and so much (XXth Century).
─Now, the "Chinese virus" (Mr. Donald Trump, 2020) triggered the COVID-19 pandemic. The exact place of onset is still under investigation. Wuhan (Hubei, China) is the first candidate, but it could have started elsewhere. Microbes have not borders, nationality, ideology, nor beliefs.
CONCLUSION.
To name some diseases and epidemics/pandemics after countries is very mediatic. But it is not scientific besides the fact that it is false. It is the same in the case of human groups (Homosexuals, drug addicts/AIDS). And what about the pandemic coronavirus's new variants? British, Brazilian, Sudafrican, Californian: it is another nonsense terminology. A matter that worries and occupies the WHO and that worries some of us fans of these topics.
I send you cordial greetings from Spain. The country where neither the horrible first XX-century pandemic flu (1918-20 Flu) nor syphilis (bubas) of the 15th century surged.
