From African health and influenza pandemics to disease in Russia: the medical history of K. David Patterson.

This paper is a personal commentary on the contributions of noted medical historian K. David Patterson. The eightieth anniversary of the onset of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 serves as a reminder of his contributions. His works on slavery and disease in Africa, influenza diffusion and the history of cholera and other diseases periodically appeared in Social Science and Medicine. With a publishing career that lasted from 1971 to 1996, his enduring contributions include revised estimates of mortality in Africa during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.