Loring Vinton Miner (1860–1935) was an American physician who is most notable for being the first in the world to identify and describe the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

Early life and education

Loring Miner was born in 1860 in Kansas. He graduated from

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

. He received his M.D. from Columbus Medical College, in 1886. He was also self taught in ancient Greek and could easily read classics in the original language.

Career

He began his medical practice in

Haskell County, Kansas Haskell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Sublette. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 3,780. The county was named after Dudley Haskell, a congressman during the ...

in 1885. Although he owned one of the first automobiles in this rural area, he relied on a horse and buggy to make house calls at farms and villages throughout the county. In addition to being a physician, he also served as the county's coroner for a time, as well as county health officer and as a chair in the county's chapter of the Democratic Party. He also owned a grocery store and drugstore.

Spanish flu

In 1918, he became the first person in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to report the outbreak of the

to the US Health Service. Following the severe illness and death of an elderly woman patient, his practice was besieged with numerous patients, including young and formerly healthy people, suffering with similar symptoms. Due to the efforts of Loring Miner, it has been theorized that the

originated in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Death

He died in an automobile crash in Sublette, Kansas, on 30 September 1935. He is buried in the Valley View Cemetery, Garden City, Kansas.

References

External links

Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Loring Spanish flu pandemic Physicians from Kansas 1860 births 1935 deaths Ohio University alumni Ohio State University College of Medicine alumni 19th-century American physicians 20th-century American physicians People from Haskell County, Kansas