The Pursuit of a Pestilence.

The article discusses outbreaks of influenza in U.S. history. The author notes that epidemics could have a negative effect on colonial economies and comments on how environmental factors in America affected outbreaks of diseases. Epidemics in military camps and religious aspects of colonial diseases, including the use of sermons as historical sources regarding diseases, are also discussed. The author notes that before the Revolutionary War, possible cases of influenza were classified by symptoms and complications such as pleurisy or peripneumony but not identified. Outbreaks of diseases in colonial New England, including cases of colds among the Pilgrims and deaths due to influenza and smallpox in Boston, Massachusetts, are noted.