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Disease has always been a constant threat to human life, and a source of anxiety for those going through a period where diseases reach pandemic levels. During these periods of heightened anxiety, many people see an opportunity to make profits and create medicines promising to “cure” or combat said diseases. However, most of the time these “cures” are predicated on lies, and do not actually do anything to fight the diseases they claim to. My interest in this subject first came by witnessing “sure cures” within the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 and hearing people talk about hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine,[1] and various other news stories of companies promoting dietary supplements, vitamins and a slew of other products claiming to fight Covid-19.[2]
During the Covid-19 Pandemic the first “sure cure” I heard of was when the Televangelist, Jim Bakker, began to peddle his “Silver Solution” as a product that would 100% kill coronavirus. Bakker had begun to sell the solution on his website and his “natural health expert” Sherrill Sellman claimed “’Well, let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours … Totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it.’”[3] Eventually Bakker was forced to take down the fake coronavirus cure which he was selling for eighty dollars per 12 ounces.
While Jim Bakker was duping just a small percentage of Americans, the largest source of misinformation on treating Covid with ineffectual products was President Trump. Trump had claimed that Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin combined were an effective deterrent of Covid and sales increased dramatically, up 539% since he had begun to tout the combination of the drugs as a game changer in fighting Covid.[4]
While I observed these ineffectual medicines being peddled during the latest global pandemic (Covid-19), I wondered if “fake” medicines had similarly proliferated during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 and what those fake medicines would have looked like. My first encounter with the fake medicines claiming to cure or combat Spanish Influenza began when reading Ana Luisa Martinez-Castam’s article “Desolate Streets: The Spanish Influenza in San Antonio” which mentioned:
Newspapers published advertisements, often disguised as medical advice, promising immunity to the influenza if people used a specific product. Ads for Hyomei Inhaling Outfits, which resembled news articles, reflected and magnified the community’s fear by depicting the danger that lurked in the air: “The air today is full of influenza germs. Every breath you take is likely to draw them into your nose and throat.” To prevent contracting influenza, the ad instructed readers to use Hyomei Inhaling Outfits. The kit included Hyomei oil that users inhaled through a hand-held breathing device.[5]
Advertisements like these were not uncommon, within another San Antonio Newspaper, published on the same day as the Hyomei Inhaling Outfits ad, there are numerous others ads that claimed to combat the disease. Amongst the ads there are two ads right next to one another that claim to cure or combat Spanish Influenza. The first being Gude’s Pepto-Mangan that claimed: “Build up your blood and fortify your body against Spanish Influenza with Gude’s Pepto-Mangan ‘The Red Blood Builder’” the other being bottles of Iophene (Meyer) that put in big, bold, underlined lettering at the top of their ad “SPANISH INFLUENZA” followed by: “Safeguard yourself against this contagious disease. It is vitally important to yourself, your community and your country that you take every precaution. Reproduced below is a list of precautions by the American Red Cross.”[6]
Fake medicines were not contained to just San Antonio, with many “cures” being manufactured, advertised and consumed across the country during this time like “Hill’s Bromide Casacra Quinine” ad in Colorado, which stated: “Look out for Spanish Influenza. At the first sign of cold take Hill’s Bromide Casacara Quinine.”[7] Similarly to the United States government and health experts warning against the fake medicines claiming to cure Covid during the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Surgeon General of the United States during 1918 stated: “’The health service urges the public to remember that there is as yet no specific cure for influenza, and that many of the alleged ‘cures’ and remedies now being recommended by neighbors, nostrum vendors, and others do more harm than good”.[8]
It’s important to keep these lessons and examples from 1918-1919 and 2020 in mind as pandemics and “sure cures” will never go away. In order to prepare for the future, we must examine the past, and my examination of the dubious medicines peddled during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 and during the Covid-19 Pandemic has allowed me to warn others in my life with cautionary tales of fake medicines from yesteryear and stop them from being duped by the “sure cures” of today.
[1] Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, “FDA Cautions against Use of Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine for COVID-19 Outside of the Hospital Setting or a Clinical Trial Due to Risk of Heart Rhythm Problems,” FDA, June 26, 2020, https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or.
[2] “Cracking down on Fake COVID-19 Cures,” Consumer Information, July 31, 2020, https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/07/cracking-down-fake-covid-19-cures.
[3] “Missouri Sues Televangelist Jim Bakker For Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure,” NPR.org, accessed May 5, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814550474/missouri-sues-televangelist-jim-bakker-for-selling-fake-coronavirus-cure.
[4] John Fauber and Daphne Chen, “Experts warn against overuse of antibiotics,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S, 2021, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/54
[5] Ana Luisa Martinez-Catsam, “Desolate Streets: The Spanish Influenza in San Antonio,” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 116, no. 3 (2013): 286–303, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24388347.
[6] “B’San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 299, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1918’,” Newspaper, The Portal to Texas History, October 25, 1918, United States - Texas - Bexar County - San Antonio, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth430425/m1/5/.
[7] “Moffat County Courier February 13, 1919 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection,” February 13, 1919, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MCC19190213-01.2.15.4&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%28%28Navajo%29%29+AND+%28%28Spanish+Flu%29%29+OR+%28%28Spanish+Influenza%29%29+OR+%28%28Influenza%29%29-------0------.
[8] “BEWARE OF ‘SURE CURES.’: Vaccines Only in Experimental Stage, Says Surgeon Gen. Blue.,” New York Times, October 27, 1918, http://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/99962144/abstract/DAF3FD4CCB22431BPQ/7.
Dublin Core
Title: San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 299, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1918.
Subject: The Portal to Texas History, San Antonio Express, Advertisements
Description: Contains two advertisements for medicines claiming to treat and or cure Spanish Influenza.
Creator: San Antonio Express, Meyer Bros. Drug Company
Source: The Portal to Texas History
Publisher: San Antonio Express
Date: 10-25-1918
Contributor: San Antonio Express, Meyer Bros. Drug Company
Rights: This newspaper has been made publicly available for use in research, teaching, and private study by the Abilene Library Consortium in partnership with The Portal to Texas History, a digital repository hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries. As an item in the public domain, you are free to use this newspaper without restriction or permissions.
You are free to link to any publicly accessible URL associated with this newspaper.
Please use responsibly. We have provided tools below to aid you in sharing, citing, or referencing this item online and in print.
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Identifier: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth430425/m1/5/
Coverage: San Antonio, 1918
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1919
Citation: San Antonio Express, Meyer Bros. Drug Company, “San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 299, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1918.,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/1.
Dublin Core
Title: Beware of 'Sure Cures.'
Subject: Fake Medicines, Federal Government, 1918
Description: Surgeon General Blue gave a statement warning that there were no cures for Spanish Influenza as of October 22nd, 1918 and that the public should be vigilant in not buying/taking fake medicines claiming to cure Spanish Influenza.
Creator: New York Times
Source: Historical New York Times, ProQuest
Publisher: New York Times
Date: 10-22-1918
Format: Pdf
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 1918
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1919
Citation: New York Times, “Beware of 'Sure Cures.',” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/2.
Dublin Core
Title: Hill's Bromide Cascara Quinine
Subject: Fake Medicines, 1918, Spanish Influenza
Description: An advertisement for Hill's Bromide Cascara Quinine which uses Spanish Influenza in it's heading, claims to cure colds and grip. Suggests that it prevents colds which cause Spanish Influenza.
Creator: W.W. Hill Company
Source: Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
Publisher: Moffat County Courier
Date: 02-13-1919
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 1918
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1919
Citation: W.W. Hill Company, “Hill's Bromide Cascara Quinine,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/3.
Dublin Core
Title: Langham's Lightning Liniment (3 L.L.L.)
Subject: Fake Medicines, 1918
Description: Photograph of a Langham's Lightning Liniment, which claimed to prevent Spanish Influenza.
Creator: Jones Medicine Co.
Source: Smithsonian Institution
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Date: After 1918
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Medical Product
Collection: Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1919
Citation: Jones Medicine Co. , “Langham's Lightning Liniment (3 L.L.L.),” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/4.
Dublin Core
Title: Beware of fake cures for coronavirus
Subject: Ineffectual Medicines, Covid-19, 2020
Description: This article talks about a myriad of misinformation on how to treat coronavirus and warns readers to not try or trust these techniques.
Creator: Frank Witsil
Publisher: Detroit Free Press
Date: 03-20-2020
Rights: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021
Citation: Frank Witsil, “Beware of fake cures for coronavirus,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/51.
Dublin Core
Title: Cashing in on crisis
Subject: Covid-19 Pandemic, Ineffectual Medicines, 2020
Description: This article details different people "cashing in" on the Covid-19 crisis. In the final two paragraphs it notes Alex Jones of "Infowars" where he promoted his product, saying: "Superblue Fluoride-Free Toothpaste" kills the coronavirus." It then mentions Jim Bakker and his silver solution, which he claimed cured coronavirus to his Evangelical followers.
Creator: Joseph Rogan
Publisher: The Times-Tribune
Date: 04-05-2020
Rights: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021
Citation: Joseph Rogan, “Cashing in on crisis,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/53.
Dublin Core
Title: Experts warn against overuse of antibiotics
Subject: Covid-19 Pandemic, Covid-19 Pandemic, 2020
Description: This article addresses the dubious claims of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine in treating Covid-19. The article also states that "Prescriptions of the drug combination [azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine] increased dramatically - up 539% in one week alone - from mid-March to Mid-April [of 2020].
Creator: John Fauber and Daphne Chen
Publisher: The Journal News
Date: 09-02-2020
Rights: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021
Citation: John Fauber and Daphne Chen, “Experts warn against overuse of antibiotics,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/54.
Dublin Core
Title: Trump wants us to inject bleach?
Subject: Covid-19 Pandemic, Ineffectual Medicines, 2020
Description: This article speculates on Trumps endorsement and personal consumption of Hydroxychloroquine and whether the side effects of taking that drug are evident in Trumps behavior.
Creator: Dana Milbank
Publisher: West Hawaii Today
Date: 04-26-2020
Rights: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/termsandconditions
Format: Jpg
Language: English
Type: Text
Coverage: 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format: Newspaper
Collection: Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021
Citation: Dana Milbank, “Trump wants us to inject bleach?,” Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S. , accessed June 5, 2024, https://ushistory1918flu2020covid.omeka.net/items/show/55.