During the time that World War 1 was happening, a new influenza appeared. The war played a big role when it came to the spread of the virus and how severe it was. The conditions in the military such as overcrowding and troops moving around contributed to the spread of the virus. There were a large number of troops on these bases so many people got the virus and it spread globally. There was an overwhelming amount of casualties. There were more soldiers who died from the flu than by their war enemies.
There was even a shortage of nurses because they were used for the military and volunteers were used to help the ill. There was also a program where you can become a practical nurse in a very short amount of time and it was created due to the shortage of nurses which was seen in the pandemic. During the time of the pandemic, there were also hygiene education propaganda posters. There were posters discouraging things like spitting on the ground.
One specific poster said “Halt the epidemic! Stop Spitting- everybody” and it shows a devil rising forming from the saliva on the ground. This basically means that they are somewhat attributing the spread of the virus to people spitting even though there’s more to it than that. I thought it was interesting how the man looks so calm and seemingly unbothered by this devil coming from the spit next to him.
It could possibly show that people can be selfish and how they should be more considerate about the spread of the virus. There were also ways to stay healthy and well by doctors during this time which also mentioned spitting and spreading germs in general which should stop. The Spanish Flu affected both the military and civilians and ended up taking millions of lives due to not being as advanced yet with medicine and not being able to find a cure.