Advanced Biotechnologies Blog BRIEF HISTORY OF INFLUENZA

Human Influenza A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) Virus What is the history of Influenza? Records show that the flu has been around for at least 1,500 years. The history of influenza begins with Hippocrates (5th century BC) who first reported that an influenza-like illness spread from Northern Greece to the islands south and elsewhere. In the 1300s, a flu epidemic hit Florence, Italy, which they called influenza di freddo ("cold influence"), no doubt a reference to what they thought caused the disease (viruses weren't discovered until 1892). History records various flu epidemics, from one in 1580 that spread from Asia to Europe and