Crossword Genius

Bug ranges around India, at first having travelled rapidly on the air (7,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spanish flu

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'ranges around india at first having travelled rapidly on the air' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'bug' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'bug' could be 'flu' and 'flu' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'spanish' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for spanish flu that I've seen is " Cause of 1918 pandemic".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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