While the army and navy of the United states are in France “making the world safe for democracy,” the American Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research begins a four-and-a-half month research project at Fort Riley (kansas).  Soldiers are infected with an experimental bacterial meningitis vaccine.

       Postscript: The infected soldiers were transferred to France, where they mingled with other soldiers from around the world, who then carried it back to their nations of origin upon the conclusion of the Great War (World War I).  Thus began the “Spanish Flu” pandemic, which claimed at least 50,000,000 lives.

       [added 6/14/2022] Thanks to Freedoms Phoenix for this entry.