ABSTRACT
The 1890 influenza outbreak was Singapore’s first documented flu epidemic. As in subsequent outbreaks, colonial and municipal responses were half-hearted and inadequate in dealing with a disease that surfaced and disappeared equally quickly. Unlike plague, cholera and smallpox, influenza did not seem to be quarantinable. But while the authorities subsequently did not adopt an influenza policy, the 1890 outbreak was not completely forgotten. Educated people in colonial Singapore wrote about it and kept its memory alive, as did chemists who offered purported cures for influenza and colds. Social memory is a useful resource in combating infectious disease outbreaks.
