Influenza kills 113 and sickens 88 of Kosrae’s 1,106 people.

What happened

Missionary Benjamin Snow reported 113 recent deaths from influenza, and the next year another 125 people died of various illnesses. Snow’s yearly counts show the population falling from 1,106 to 747 between 1855 and 1858, a loss of about 11% a year.

Why it matters

Hezel writes that no island in the region was ravaged by disease as terribly as Kosrae, which lost about 90% of its people in 50 years.