What Can We Learn From the 1918 Pandemic?

The 1918 flu pandemic is covered by a veil of mystery. A hypothesis suggests that public health recommendations might have resulted in aspirin overdoses on a massive scale.

By: Tessa Lena

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• It is estimated that the Spanish flu pandemic killed 20 to 50 million people worldwide

• In the words of the CDC, "CDC researchers and their colleagues successfully reconstructed the influenza virus that caused the 1918-19 flu pandemic, which killed as many as 50 million people worldwide"

• Politicians in some cities were enforc…