Spanish Flu started in 1915?

UKMail article

A study has found there were investigations as early as 1915 into a mysterious illness which was killing World War I soldiers in France and England.  ,,,

A medical group in Etaples, northern France, reported treating hundreds of people with an 'unusually fatal disease' causing 'complex' breathing problems in 1917. And soldiers were being struck down with the virus across the Channel in Aldershot, England, in 1915 and 1916...

In a study of literature from the early 20th Century, Professor Oxford and his colleague Douglas Gill, a military historian, found records of the flu bubbling under the surface. Some 60,000 soldiers were being admitted to British and French army hospitals in 1915 and 1916 with flu-like symptoms – and around half of them were dying. But the virus quickly exploded and spread out of military bases and to people all over the world. 'In essence, the virus must have mutated,' said Professor Oxford. 'It lost a great deal of its virulence, but gained a marked ability to spread. In a study of literature from the early 20th Century, Professor Oxford and his colleague Douglas Gill, a military historian, found records of the flu bubbling under the surface.

Some 60,000 soldiers were being admitted to British and French army hospitals in 1915 and 1916 with flu-like symptoms – and around half of them were dying. But the virus quickly exploded and spread out of military bases and to people all over the world. 'In essence, the virus must have mutated,' said Professor Oxford. 'It lost a great deal of its virulence, but gained a marked ability to spread..