The 1918-1920 influenza epidemic in Taiwan was intriguing in several aspects. First, it was one of the few regions in the world that a wave had occurred as late as 1920 [5] . Moreover, the two waves of the epidemic were separated by almost a full year, in contrast to intervals of a few months in most countries in the world [3] , and both occurred during the months of yearly winter influenza season in Taiwan. The relatively late occurrence of the initial outbreak in November of 1918, as well as the second wave in early 1920, perhaps signifies the relative lack of international travel due to its status at that time as a fairly recent Japanese colony (since 1895), in contrast to nearby regions such as Singapore which is geographically similar but more globally connected [10] .