THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918-1919 IN THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN

The influenza pandemic swept through the Caribbean during the period O ctober 1918 to March 1919 and resulted in c.100000 deaths. This articl e focuses on the British possessions and is based principally on offic ial reports and the local press. It looks at bow the virus entered and spread through the region, the possible reasons for variations in lev els of morbidity and mortality between islands, popular responses to t he infection, and the mainly fruitless official attempts to arrest and deal with the disease. Jamaica was the first island to be affected, a nd along with Belize and Guyana, suffered most severely. A number of i slands, particularly those in the eastern Caribbean, appear to have es caped relatively lightly. Although all sections of the population were vulnerable, the heaviest mortality rates were among the very poor, Ea st Indian immigrant labourers, and native Americans. There was also a high toll among males aged 15-40. Altogether the death rate from influ enza in the British Caribbean was c.30000. In London influenza was add ed to the official list of British 'imperial diseases', and although i t was recognized that poverty provided the conditions for the spread o f disease, the resources in the Caribbean were barely used to improve standards of living and nutrition.