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It’s been argued that history repeats itself, while others argue it may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Either way, today’s day in history may feel a little chilling in the face of a measles outbreak in Eastern New Mexico and Western Texas.

On March 4th 1918, the first case of the Spanish flu was reported. This happened on Funston Army Camp in Kansas. This is a bit of a misnomer as the Spanish Flu had been rapidly spreading before this date, however, this is the first known reported person (soldier specifically) to be confirmed with having the flu, with no earlier official reports coming before then. The Spanish Flu is considered the worst pandemic in history (yes, far worse than Covid-19), killing more than both World Wars combined.

Tracing back records indicate that the outbreak began in Haskell County around January 1918. During this time influenza was not a reportable event, but local doctors realized very quickly that there was a new outbreak and that it would be best to alert the U.S. Public Health Service at that time. Historical records indicate that a few soldiers traveled to Camp Funston for training, returning to their homes in the county, spreading it locally. This camp would later be used to train soldiers who were drafted from the Midwest states to serve in the trenches of World War One. These troops would be trained, then sent across the world to fight, jump starting the pandemic. Foreign officers would come to Camp Funston to train with American’s and learn training techniques, specifically how to lead troops from the midwest. This ultimately made for a perfect starting spot for the Spanish Flu, which would spread from Camp Funston to the rest of the world, killing 670,000 American’s and over 100,000,000 people globally.