Thread by @InsideEdition

There was nothing Spanish about the flu, nor was there widespread media coverage of the mysterious virus that killed the young and middle-aged in devastating numbers.

We explore the hidden plague that ravaged the world, THREAD: ietv.co/3b788dA

1/7 With a war on, global leaders wanted nothing to mar morale or efforts to raise money for battle. That included coverage by the press and issuing mass public health warnings about the Spanish Flu. ietv.co/3b788dA

2/7 The U.S. entered WWI in April 1917, and a year later America's first cases were identified in soldiers at a Kansas military installation. There is no consensus on where the first international cases were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

3/7 "The net result of all this was a tremendous amount of fear, particularly given the fact that there was fake news back then," historical author and Tulane University scholar John Barry told Inside Edition Digital. ietv.co/3b788dA

4/7 "The lies were frankly coming directly from the government. Because we were at war, and because Woodrow Wilson's administration believed that anything negative would hurt the war effort." ietv.co/3b788dA

5/7 Medicine was crude and the electron microscope had not yet been invented, so treatment consisted of aspirin and bed rest and scientists were hard pressed to find a cure because they weren't able to actually see the influenza's molecular structure. ietv.co/3b788dA

6/7 Influenza patients bled from their eyes, noses, ears and mouths. Some turned blue. It was the worst plague in modern history, with an estimated 500 million infected, or about 30% of the global population. In the U.S., 28% of the country's population became infected.

7/7 For more on ‘How The Hidden 1918 'Spanish Flu' Pandemic Altered History and the Lives of Millions’: ietv.co/3b788dA