This paper is a personal commentary on the contributions of noted medical historian K. David Patterson. The eightieth anniversary of the onset of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 serves as a reminder of his contributions. His works on slavery and disease in Africa, influenza diffusion and...

The focus of this study is the spread of influenza in Africa south of the Sahara during the pandemic of 1918-1919. Most known types of diffusion pattern, i.e. radial, wave-like and linear, have been identified; however, the disease spread so rapidly that four particularly devastating linear...