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Asian flu

American  
Pathology.
  1. a form of epidemic influenza caused by a virus believed to have been carried from Asia in the late 1950s.


Asian flu British  

noun

  1. a type of influenza recurring in worldwide epidemics, caused by a virus (A2 strain or subsequent antigenic variants), which apparently originated in China in 1957

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When she contracted Asian flu, the virus paralyzed her with “a vise cluster of migraines.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025

“I was on the cruiser Albany, unaware that the Asian flu existed until we became sick at sea after our exposure in Chile,” Dick wrote.

From Washington Post • Mar. 23, 2020

The H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu disappeared when the H2N2 virus that touched off the Asian flu pandemic emerged in 1957.

From Scientific American • Jan. 9, 2018

In the event, she did get it, as well as Asian flu, a banged nose, "swollen eyes", a "migraine headache" and a pair of infected teeth.

From The Guardian • Jul. 19, 2013

Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from "the Asian flu" in 1998.

From The 1999 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

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