September 20, 1918 - Influenza makes the front page

The following article appears today on the front page of the Evening Public Ledger:

The Pfeiffer bacillus, known as Bacillus influenzae, now known as Hemophilus influenzae, ultimately proved not to be the cause of influenza.  It was not until the 1930s that influenza was determined to be a viral illness.  Hemophilus influenza, often isolated in early research from severe cases of influenza with pneumonia, may have been a factor as a secondary cause of pneumonia in influenza cases.

The American Association of Immunology has a brief history of early Pfeiffer bacillus research and its association with influenza.

The 1918-1919 pandemic flu (grip or grippe) was often referred to as the Spanish flu.  This explanation from the November 2017 Smithsonian:
"Initially the 1918 pandemic set off few alarms, chiefly because in most places it rarely killed, despite the enormous numbers of people infected. Doctors in the British Grand Fleet, for example, admitted 10,313 sailors to sick bay in May and June, but only 4 died. It had hit both warring armies in France in April, but troops dismissed it as 'three-day fever.' The only attention it got came when it swept through Spain, and sickened the king; the press in Spain, which was not at war, wrote at length about the disease, unlike the censored press in warring countries, including the United States. Hence it became known as 'Spanish flu.'"