Did coronaviruses cause 'influenza epidemics' prior to 1918?

J Travel Med

Formerly Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Silver Spring MD 20904, USA.

Published: February 2021

There were epidemics of influenza-like illness during the winters of 1915–6 and 1916–7 when mortality was low among infants and children but high among older adults (like SARS-CoV-2 but not influenza). Records suggest that ‘influenza’ epidemics preceding the 1918–9 pandemic were caused by multiple respiratory viruses possibly an undocumented coronavirus.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7665667PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa206DOI Listing

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