Profile America -- Thursday, March 11th. A devastating public health crisis began in the U.S. on this day 92 years ago -- and has been mentioned often in discussions about the H1N1 virus scare of recent months. The disease was called the "Spanish influenza," and first hit soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas, just back from fighting in Europe. The virus moved quickly, and in October of 1918 195,000 Americans perished. In one day alone, 851 New Yorkers died. By 1920, nearly one-in-four Americans had suffered from this strain of the flu, killing a half-million of them. But even less dramatic forms of the disease are deadly. Each year, more than 56,000 Americans die of the flu and pneumonia.
