Outbreaks of influenza throughout human history have been directly linked to maximums in solar activity, something that also contributes to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Electro-magnetic exposures from the former, and noxious gases and debris from the latter, all contribute to this strange and rapidly spreading illness even when there were no planes, trains, cars, etc. Likewise, various plagues, including the infamous Black Death, have been directly linked to comets or other objects from ... See More the heavens. This debris contains things like methane and ammonia, both of which contribute to plague and influenza symptom complexes, specifically including respiratory problems. Hence the word ‘influenza’ stemming from the ‘influence’ of the heavens, and why the Greeks and Romans saw comets as harbingers of what usually amounted to bad news. In 1889 the world changed dramatically though, with the increasing advancement of electrical proliferation. This caused an immediate spread of influenza that was classified at the time as a neurological disease.