Origins of Name
The first cases of influenza were registered in the continental United States and the rest of Europe before getting to Spain. The 1918 pandemic received its nickname "Spanish flu" because of the early perceptions of the disease's severity in Spain. Spain was a neutral country in World War I and had no censorship of news regarding the disease and its consequences. Germany, the United States, Britain and France all had media blackouts on news that might lower morale, and did not want to disclose information about the disease and the number of deaths to their enemies. News outlets, however, were free to report about conditions in Spain, including the grave illness of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, giving the false impression (in the absence of real news from anywhere else) that Spain was the most-affected area.
Read more about this topic: 1918 Flu Pandemic
Famous quotes containing the words origins of and/or origins:
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)