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I've just finished a long overdue re-read of It by Stephen King, this time I used an ebook.

I'm left a bit bemused because of a faint memory I have from the original paper book, I'm convinced that there was a reference made by one character during a conversation. He was mentioning a "killer flu" breaking out in Texas but there was a cover up taking place.

Is this mention actually in any of the early publications of It?

Note taken from SK fanzome:- Captain Trips, a man-made virus created by the United States Military on taxpayer dollars, killed all but a handful of the humans, dogs, guinea pigs, horses and monkeys on Earth by July 4 of 1980/1985/1990/1994/2020 (depending on the exact version or adaptation of the story

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    Texas is mentioned a few times in my (ebook) copy, but not in relation to flu, cover-ups or anything remotely related to superflu. There's also no mention at all of Captain Trips and the only person with 'influenza' is a flashback to the 50s
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 27, 2022 at 19:03
  • stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Trips - The wiki has a small range of stories that refer to the superflu, but again, It isn't on the list
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 27, 2022 at 19:09
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    No mention of Captain Trips, or killer flu in Texas, in the 1986 edition.
    – Clara Díaz Sanchez
    Commented Sep 28, 2022 at 6:22
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    My mother (big King fan) read large parts of both It and The Stand to us when we were little kids in the late '80s, and at the time she said these stories were connected by the Captain Trips super disease. I don't recall exactly what she said, so I guess I can't say whether it was explicit in the novels, or just implied, or just her own fan-theory. But you're not the only person with this idea.
    – Tom
    Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 1:04
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    I think it's pretty likely you are getting a memory confused by The Dark Tower series, which has one of the species of monsters from It, as well as the bad guy from The Stand (and takes place after both).
    – CaptainSkyfish
    Commented Sep 30, 2022 at 22:23

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No, there is not. I have skimmed my copy (1986, third printing) and didn't find any reference to a killer flu. "Flu" mostly comes up as a simple illness, like Stuttering Bill has when his brother George is taken. I didn't see "Trips" at all, and "Texas" mostly appears in the context of a wine named "Texas Driver." (One of the boy's parents moved from Texas too.) No mention of an epidemic, "plague" shows up in the sense of bad things plaguing a place. Scattered usages of "disease," but in a normal sense, like references to tetanus or syphilis or "hobos" being "diseased."

Note, I truly only skimmed the book looking for these words, so if the reference were sufficiently elliptical I might have missed it, but I'm confident (and it matches my memories) that there is no clear mention of it.

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    This seems pretty definitive! I too have the same recollection as the OP but not specific to the work - I would have said it was in a story in one of the early collections like Night Shift or the next one.
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 12:25
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    @OrganicMarble I think it was mentioned in one of the Dark Tower books and I too remember a short story appearance
    – Yorik
    Commented Sep 29, 2022 at 21:29
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I appreciate that I've already accepted an answer from @DavidW but I'm also doing a self answer to close out this question.

I've again read through the book and the extract below is what pinged my subconscious (bold emphasis by me)

When you got big enough to be noticed, you got big enough to come gunning for. Or maybe he just had a touch of the bug. There was a hell of a lively one going around. Ricky Lee got a beer stein from the backbar and reached for the Olympia tap.

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