ABSTRACT
Doctors had no idea that they were treating the first known case of Spanish flu, which would devastate the population of the world, killing up to fifty million people, or about three percent of the human race. Whatever the cause, the flu spread quickly throughout Europe, too, but most countries were reluctant to frighten their citizens with the announcement of a fast-spreading sickness. Only Spain reported it, and as a result people around the world got the false impression that Spain was the source of the problem. The war and the Spanish flu had disrupted agriculture and manufacturing around the world. The overwhelming sense of relief that spread through the world at the end of the epidemic was comparable to that of the war's end. The people most likely to bilk systems are doctors and medical providers. Pharmaceutical companies have successfully lobbied Congress to keep Medicare from bargaining for lower drug prices.
