Also from the 1918 Spanish flu, there was a terrible misuse of aspirin. The AMA recommended the equivalent of 25 of the standard 325 Mg tablets per day. Many doctors far exceeded even that.
It very likely caused a large amount of the lung hemorrhaging and the resulting deaths. They thought it was a miracle drug that fought fever.
“The AMA recommended the equivalent of 25 of the standard 325 Mg tablets per day.”
Well - doctor knows best, that’s what I always say! /s (That is crazy. Stuff like that makes me wonder what they will be saying about our treatments in 100 years.)
From the net (two reports from 2008 and 2009 discuss this):
“In summary, just before the 1918 death spike, aspirin was recommended in regimens now known to be potentially toxic and to cause pulmonary edema and may therefore have contributed to overall pandemic mortality and several of its mysteries. Young adult mortality may be explained by willingness to use the new, recommended therapy and the presence of youth in regimented treatment settings (military). The lower mortality of children may be a result of less aspirin use. The major pediatric text of 1918 recommended hydrotherapy for fever, not salicylate....”