It is believed that influenza first made its appearance after humans started domesticating fowls and animals, and the disease started transmitting from animals to humans.

However, the symptoms of influenza are quite similar to the symptoms of dengue, diphtheria, typhoid and plague, and that is why it is very difficult for scientists to figure out exactly where influenza came from.Nonetheless, we do know that influenza is a very old disease that has been plaguing mankind for thousands of years. Hippocrates has made reference to the symptoms of influenza in his writings that were penned more than 2,400 years ago. The first epidemic of influenza in Europe that was recorded occurred in the 1580s. It is believed that the illness started in Russia and then spread to Europe and Africa killing thousands of people.

In 1743, Europe had another epidemic of influenza that claimed thousands of lives. But that was not all, two severe epidemics of influenza, namely from 1830 to 1733 and 1918 to 1919 struck Europe again. The flu epidemic in 1918 was called Spanish flu and it started just as World War I was finishing.

In the 21st century, flu epidemics have not been that severe primarily because of advances in medical science and awareness among people. However, still flu epidemics have occurred, like the Asian flu during 1957-1957, the Hong Kong flu from 1968 to 1969, the swine flu in New Jersey in 1876, Russian flu pandemic in 1977, H5N1 avian influenza in Asia in 1997 and the H1N1 influenza A pandemic in 2009.

Today, health care professionals are battling mutated forms of the influenza virus which is making the treatment difficult.

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