PSA: Wash your hands!

It's been 100 years since the Great Influenza Pandemic, and the flu season this year is off to a rough start. Vital flu vaccine factories in Puerto Rico were damaged by hurricanes, and they haven't been fully repaired.

World War I (WWI) had a death toll of 18 million people, both soldier and civilian. Modern analysis of the Great Influenza Pandemic suggest 50-100 million people died, as opposed to the older estimates of 20-40 million people.

Up to 20% of the infected would die, and in some regions the infection rate was as high as 50%.

It is said that this flu killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years, and more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century.

The Great Flu was quite deadly, especially for people age 20-40. Your own immune system would basically overreact and kill you.

People could catch it and die within 24 hours, while others would cough up blood and multicolored mucus for days before their faces turned blue and they died.

No corner of the world was spared. Isolated Pacific islands, remote villages in Alaska, even world leaders like Woodrow Wilson (American President during WWI), David L George (British Prime Minister during WWI), King George V of Britain, and King Alfonso XIII of Spain caught the flu.

The Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 was a strain of H1N1, the same general type as the Swine Flu and Avian Flu we all heard so much about in the last 10 years.

Remember the big Ebola virus pandemic a few years ago? If we include the estimated number of unreported cases, we find that 100,000 people caught Ebola. The Flu Pandemic infected an estimated 500 million people.

This flu season, the Northern Hemisphere is already seeing a steep increase in flu cases. In the USA alone, flu rates are already double that of last year, and they're only rising. So if you're feeling sick, don't ignore it. Take some medicine and try to be conscious about spreading germs.