Ellie Amber's Blog

  The Spanish Flu was a very deadly influenza. It lasted from February 1918 to April 1920. Doctors were not as advanced as we are today, medicine-wise. The Flu infected over five hundred million people. There was no cure, and people were scared. No drugs or antivirals helped with stopping the Flu. Vaccines didn't work either. They decided to try using aspirin. At first, it seemed to work. Then it started poisoning people instead of helping them. This was because the dosages doctors were prescribing were too high.  The Flu started in the United States. It spread quickly. Soon it was all over the world, but the United States got hit the worse. It is assumed the Flu came from Haskell Country, Kansas, but no one knows for sure.   Even though there wasn't a cure, the Flu eventually died down. This was because everyone who got the virus either died or became immune.  Businesses closed down because more and more workers became sick. Some did not earn enough money...

Medicine before the 1800s was not as advanced as it is today. Medicine originated out of parts of Asia and Egypt. They used what we call folklore medicine. Folklore medicine was made of vegetables and herbs. This was used to cure colds and fevers. This seemed to work for them.      When someone got a disabling disease they thought this came from a supernatural source such as a witch. They believed that the witch cast a spell or curse on them. When someone had a broken bone or wound they would bandage it up. Kind of like we do today. For disease, they would send them on their way with a position made with herbs or plants.   As for surgery, most people probably died. The doctors at the time were called "Medicine Men". They only did surgery for things like tumors, abscesses, etc.      When a patient died, on the table, they would cut the surgeon's hands off. But if the patient was a slave and they died on the table, then the surgeon would own the owne...