In 1510, an acute respiratory disease emerged in Asia[1][2][3] before spreading through North Africa and Europe during the first chronicled, inter-regional flu pandemic generally recognized by medical historians and epidemiologists.[4][1][5][6][7][8][9] Influenza-like illnesses had been documented in Europe since at least Charlemagne,[1] with 1357's outbreak the first to be called influenza,[10][8] but the 1510 flu pandemic is the first to be pathologically described[11][12] following communication advances brought about by the printing press. Flu became more widely referred to as coqueluche and coccolucio in France and Sicily during this pandemic,[13][14] variations of which became the most popular names for flu in early modern Europe.[1] The pandemic caused significant disruption in government, church, and society[15][3][6] with near-universal infection[16] and a mortality rate of around 1%.[1]