Influenza

- [Eddie] Between 50 to 100 million deaths,…or, about three to six percent of the world's population.…That's how many people are estimated to have died…from the 1918 global flu pandemic.…That was back then, but even today, the flu can be deadly.…During the 2017-2018 flu season,…it is estimated that there were about 80,000 deaths…in the US related to the flu.…It was considered one of the deadliest flu seasons…in the last few decades.…

The field of medicine has gotten better since 1918.…The utilization of statistics has also helped us…combat the flu.…The flu is not a single disease, but rather,…multiple viruses with multiple strains.…To complicate things, these viruses change year to year,…and each year, different flu viruses…are more prevalent than others.…To help people avoid the flu, each year,…flu vaccines are created and administered,…but creating and distributing these vaccines…takes about six months.…

These vaccines can't cover all the possible flu viruses,…especially since during those six months,…some of the flu strains might change,…