Broadcast date: 1/24/2019 This year marks the 100th anniversary of the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic. Also known as the Spanish flu, the deadly virus infected more than 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population. It is estimated that at least 50 million worldwide died from the virus, and it took an estimated 675,000 American lives. The CDC reports that the pandemic was so severe that from 1917 to 1918, life expectancy in the United States fell by about 12 years, to 36.6 years