Century-old pair of lungs stored in jar reveals how 1918 Spanish flu pandemic began

A pair of lungs preserved over a century ago from a deceased Spanish flu patient has helped unravel the genetic adaptations undergone by the virus to spread across Europe during the start of the 1918 pandemic.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 was one of the most devastating pandemics in history, claiming some 20 to 100 million lives worldwide.