The wrong medicine

Lethal aspirin

Some suspect that many deaths during the 1918 flu epidemic could have been caused by aspirin poisoning. Doctors at the time recommended large doses of aspirin of up to 30g per day. Today, about 4g would be considered the maximum safe daily dose.

Witch-hunts

In the rural Transkei, the epidemic led to witchhunts as people tried to find an explanation for the deaths of relatives. The commissioner of police of the Transkei stated in his annual report for 1918 that “the witch-doctor has been more active than in previous years”.