Abstract:
The Group A influenza pandemic that affected the entire world in 1918-1919, killed roughly 13,000 people in the state of North Carolina alone. This event exposed the deficiencies of North Carolina's public health system and motivated the creation of a more effective network of public health agencies by the mid-1920s under the direction of Dr. Watson Smith Rankin. This movement was supported by increased public funding and established support for a permanent public health system.