# Anyone but me remember the 1968 flu pandemic?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [May 25, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461 "2020-05-25T19:21:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/1 "2020-05-25T19:21:52Z")
The 1918 “Spanish flu” pandemic was so severe that it overshadows the other 20th century pandemics. One I remember personally is the [1968 flu pandemic](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1968-pandemic.html) as that particular influenza made me pretty sick. When I mention the 1968 pandemic, though, it seems many people don’t recall it.
Anyone else have memories of it? I was ten and I remember that my body really, really ached. My bed was next to a window and I recall looking out, wishing I felt well enough to go out and play. I also remember my mother telling me that people all over were getting sick from the same thing I had.
That part I’m sure is an accurate memory. I also have memories that are distorted or false. In particular, I remember my mother saying people were calling it the “joint flu” because it made your joints ache. Throughout my life (though practically not at all after menopause, so I’m pretty sure it was hormonal) I’ve had occasional searing pain in one or both hip joints, which I always suspected - completely incorrectly, no doubt - was a lingering aftereffect of the “joint flu.”
Googling “joint flu” returns basically no hits, so I’m quite sure my brain invented that phrase. It was actually known as the “Hong Kong flu.”
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/2 "2020-05-25T19:38:17Z")
I was 17 that year. I recall hearing about the “Hong Kong Flu” but not that it was that big a deal. I may very well have gotten the flu that year, but don’t really recall it one way or the other.
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/3 "2020-05-25T19:45:38Z")
I’m about the same age as **CairoCarol**. Somebody on this board mentioned the 1968 pandemic a while back and I couldn’t think what it could be, then remembered the Hong Kong flu. But I only knew that as something they talked about on TV when mom was watching the news. I don’t remember life being any different and I don’t think I ever knew anyone who had it. I’m sure I never saw people wear surgical masks everywhere, schools weren’t shut down, and Little League went on as usual.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/4 "2020-05-25T20:01:00Z")
I had it (was about 14 at the time) and while I can’t remember much about specific symptoms (except a rather nasty fever) I do recall that our entire household (2 parents and 3 siblings) had it at the same time. I have a dim recollection of my family stumbling around like pajama-clad zombies for a week or so.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/5 "2020-05-25T20:40:00Z")
I remember it, but only because it became a bit of a family legend.
My mum had been very much looking forward to going on her first holiday in years. Especially as it was going to be sans kids. I came down with the 'flu so of course she couldn’t go. Her disappointment hurt me much more than the virus.
Turned out for the best though because two days later she too succumbed and ended up in bed for the duration.
😉
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/6 "2020-05-25T21:01:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I was 17 that year. I recall hearing about the “Hong Kong Flu” but not that it was that big a deal. I may very well have gotten the flu that year, but don’t really recall it one way or the other.
Ditto. If I did get sick, or anybody else in my immediate acquaintance did, I don’t think they got sicker than one would expect to get from the flu.
– there seems to be some conflicting information out there:
[https://www.sinobiological.com/research/virus/1968-influenza-pandemic-hong-kong-flu](https://www.sinobiological.com/research/virus/1968-influenza-pandemic-hong-kong-flu)
> [@](#):
>
> In comparison to other pandemics, the Hong Kong flu yielded a low death rate, with a case-fatality ratio below 0.5% making it a category 2 disease on the Pandemic Severity Index. The pandemic infected an estimated 500,000 Hong Kong residents, 15% of the population. In the United States, approximately 33,800 people died.
> **[Hong Kong flu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_flu)**
>
> The Hong Kong flu, also known as the 1968 flu pandemic, was a flu pandemic that occurred in 1968 and 1969 and which killed between one and four million people globally. It is among the deadliest pandemics in history, and was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. The virus was descended from H2N2 (which caused the Asian flu pandemic in 1957–1958) through antigenic shift, a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes are reassorted to form a new virus. The first recorded i...
> [@](#):
>
> The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in total, the virus killed one million people worldwide,[16] from its beginning in July 1968 until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969–70.[17] The CDC estimated that about 100,000 people died in the U.S; most excess deaths were in those 65 and older.[18
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/7 "2020-05-25T21:24:56Z")
I sort of remember it, but it never really hit West Texas hard. Any kid who was feeling nauseous and throwing up was said to have the flu, both in 1968 and in every other year of my childhood, and no single year stands out to me in that regard. But I do remember it being in the news.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/8 "2020-05-25T21:40:05Z")
I was a junior in college that year. I remember the name “Hong Kong flu” but nothing much about it locally.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/9 "2020-05-26T01:07:33Z")
I was 14 that year, and remember a great deal about that year. But I only remember the Hong Kong flu as something in the news. I know I didn’t get it.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/10 "2020-05-26T01:38:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I was 17 that year. I recall hearing about the “Hong Kong Flu” but not that it was that big a deal. I may very well have gotten the flu that year, but don’t really recall it one way or the other.
Exactly what I was going to post.
Edit: I was in San Diego.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/11 "2020-05-26T01:40:52Z")
I remember it. I missed 10 days of school.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/12 "2020-05-26T02:41:19Z")
I’m younger than y’all. I remember some stuff from 1968, but not whether I caught the flu that year. I DID catch the flu several times through my school years, including twice one especially bad (for me) year. Catching the flu sucks.
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### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/13 "2020-05-26T02:53:29Z")
i remember a joke on a tv show from that era where a kid would skip school and write funny notes for himself and one that went "roses are red violets are blue please excuse Epstein for 2 days cause he had the Asian flu "
And I asked dad about it and he said in the late 60s some of the guys in Vietnam japan etc was sick with a really bad flu and it was rumored to come from china and a few brought it home … and it made a lot of people sick over the next couple of years after
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### Author:  [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/14 "2020-05-26T04:32:51Z")
> [@nightshadea](#):
>
> i remember a joke on a tv show from that era where a kid would skip school and write funny notes for himself and one that went "roses are red violets are blue please excuse Epstein for 2 days cause he had the Asian flu "
Sounds like [Welcome Back Kotter](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072582/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/15 "2020-05-26T04:59:48Z")
> [@nightshadea](#):
>
> i remember a joke on a tv show from that era where a kid would skip school and write funny notes for himself and one that went "roses are red violets are blue please excuse Epstein for 2 days cause he had the Asian flu "
>
> And I asked dad about it and he said in the late 60s some of the guys in Vietnam japan etc was sick with a really bad flu and it was rumored to come from china and a few brought it home … and it made a lot of people sick over the next couple of years after
The [Asian Flu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957%E2%80%931958_influenza_pandemic) was an earlier pandemic in 1957-1958. It was different from the Hong Kong Flu.
_Mad_ had a feature where they put funny captions on news photos. IIRC they ran [this one](https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/KSPn1PS7xsjUXZ1gapx5w7C8Kl0=/fit-in/1600x0/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/Mao_header.jpg) with Khrushchev saying to Mao “So _you_ started the Asian Flu?” and yukking it up.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/16 "2020-05-26T06:03:11Z")
Yes, I remember the vaccination program in my elementary school. I tried to get the nurse to give it in my right arm, explaining I was left handed, to which she said, “Yes, dear” and gave it in my left arm anyway. This began a needle phobia that lasted me quite a long time.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/17 "2020-05-26T08:05:16Z")
I would have to check, but I’m pretty sure I got hit with the 1968 “Hong Kong” flu. I was fairly young, and remember being really sick, the first time I remember being so ill that I was just immobile and barley conscious. My mother got it at the same time- and blames me for bringing it home 🙂
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2020, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/18 "2020-05-26T11:20:04Z")
These were the days before the 24/7 news cycle. We didn’t hear about stuff unless it was in one of the (at least) two daily newspapers/editions or unless Huntley-Brinkley or Walter Cronkite told us about it. It’s almost impossible to remember that… or _imagine it_ for those who weren’t there. You did not know what was going on every single minute of every day all over the world, not just from news organizations but from every Tom, Dick, and Harriet with a smartphone and a Twitter handle. (Sometimes I long for those days… sigh…)
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/19 "2020-05-28T02:47:45Z")
I was in 4th grade, and was out of school for a week with what my parents told me was the flu. I’d never been out for an entire week before.
Then I lost a couple more days over the next few weeks.
So yeah, I remember it.
Our school even closed down for a few days (like, 2-3 days, I don’t think it was even a full week) as a result of it. Luckily for me, that was a month or so after I’d been sick, so I didn’t waste a perfectly good unexpected break on being sick :D.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2020, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-but-me-remember-the-1968-flu-pandemic/854461/20 "2020-05-28T03:54:40Z")
I don’t remember that one, but I remember the 1958 H2N2 pandemic because I saw my grandmother taken out of our apartment on a stretcher and the next time I saw her was at her funeral.
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