Other Trust resources

The Wellcome Library, Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Images have a range of resources on influenza, a selection of which is provided here.

Wellcome Library

The Wellcome Library features over 600 items on influenza, ranging from modern accounts of great past epidemics to original historical documents, an astrological manuscript from 1605 and over thirty video and sound recordings.

You can search the whole catalogue for influenza resources, but some particular highlights are given below:

• Rules for the successful treatment and prevention of the influenza, 1833 [PDF 2.39MB]
  Among the speculation here is whether influenza can be transmitted by clothing sent in the post, with proposed treatment options including 'vinegar of squills' (a sea-onion with diuretic and expectorant properties still used today) and powdered rhubarb.
• A patent from 1894 for a cure for influenza [PDF 430KB]
• Influenza: its cause, cure and prevention, 1902 [PDF 8.1MB]
  In this account, the anonymous author acknowledges ‘germ theory’ but is still anxious about the effect of ‘electric machines’ on the atmosphere.
• A report by a County Medical Officer of Health during the 1918 influenza pandemic [PDF 6.27MB]

Wellcome Library staff are happy to answer any specific queries relating to influenza.

Wellcome Collection

Wellcome Collection has acquired a new and unusual glass sculpture of the pandemic H1N1 swine flu virus by the artist Luke Jerram: a rare artistic response to the swine flu outbreak.

Q&A: Luke Jerram on swine flu in glass (Feature, 24 September 2009).

Wellcome Images

Wellcome Images is one of the world's richest and most unique collections, with themes ranging from medical and social history to contemporary healthcare and biomedical science. Browse the catalogue to discover interesting images relating to influenza.