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The History Hour: The 1957 flu pandemic

Discussion & Talk

The 1957 flu pandemic

02/05/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - The History Hour, The 1957 flu pandemic

A million die in 1957 flu, conflict in the Galapagos islands and trees in Hiroshima.

The flu pandemic which killed a million people in 1957, plus trees from Hiroshima and conflict in the Galapagos islands.

A new strain of flu emerged in East Asia in 1957 and spread all over the world. Known at the time as “Asian flu”, it killed more than a million people. We hear from a woman who survived the virus and speak to Mark Honigsbaum, author of The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris. Plus, Indonesia’s transgender rights movement, the assassination of the UN’s first Middle East mediator, conflict in the Galapagos Islands, and the trees that survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Photo: Americans worried about "Asian flu" wait their turns at Central Harlem District Health clinic in October 1957. Credit: Getty Images

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