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Concept
1957–1958 influenza pandemic
Summary
The 1957–1958 Asian flu pandemic was a global pandemic of influenza A virus subtype H2N2 that originated in Guizhou in Southern China. The number of excess deaths caused by the pandemic is estimated to be 1–4 million around the world (1957–1958 and probably beyond), making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history. A decade later, a reassorted viral strain H3N2 further caused the Hong Kong flu pandemic (1968–1969).
The first cases were reported in Guizhou of southern China, in 1956 or in early 1957. Observers within China noted an epidemic beginning in the third week of February in western Guizhou, between its capital Guiyang and the city of Qujing in neighbouring Yunnan province. They were soon reported in Yunnan in late February or early March 1957. By the middle of March, the flu had spread all over China.
The People's Republic of China was not a member of the World Health Organization at the time (not until 1981), and did not inform other countries about the outbreak. The United States CDC, however, contradicting most records, states that the flu was "first reported in Singapore in February 1957".
In late 1957, a second wave of the flu took place in Northern China, especially in rural areas. In the same year, as response to the epidemic, the Chinese government established the Chinese National Influenza Center (CNIC), which soon published a manual on influenza in 1958.
On 17 April 1957, The Times reported that "an influenza epidemic has affected thousands of Hong Kong residents". The same day The New York Times reported that local press estimated at least 250,000 persons were receiving treatment by that time, out of the colony's total population of about 2.5 million. The recent influx of about 700,000 refugees from mainland China had intensified authorities' fears of epidemics and fires due to crowded conditions, and according to a report received by the US Influenza Information Center on 3 May, the disease was said to be occurring mainly among these refugees.
Official source
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