We've come a long way
The Spanish flu killed more Americans in one year than
the combined total who died in battle during WWI, WWII, the Korean War,
and the Vietnam War.“Cures” for the Spanish flu included drinking whiskey,
smoking cigars, eating milk toast, gargling with salt water, getting fresh
air, and partaking of interesting concoctions like “Grippura.” Some doctors
doused their patients with icy water while others “bled” their patients.
Yet other doctors tried surgery by slicing open a patient’s chest, spreading
his ribs, and extracting pus and blood from the pleural cavity (the cavity
surrounding the lungs), which was almost always fatal in flu victims.
Iezzoni, Lynette. Influenza 1918:
The Worst Epidemic in American History. New York, NY: TV Books,
L.L.C., 1999.