Spanish Flu

Most people have heard about the terrible 'Spanish flu' of 1918-19. It is said to have killed more people than the Great War.  According to the BBC World Service documentary, it was only called the Spanish Flu because Spain had been neutral during the war.  Other western media sources still had tight censors opperating, stopping the truth of the disaster getting out.  However the Spanish media covered the situation openly and honestly, so the rest of Europe presumed it must have originated in Spain.  The programme goes on to say there are three sources thought to be where the virus may have originated.  The first is from trenches on the eastern front, the second is Kansus USA, and the third is in China.  The programme also goes on to explain how New Zealand-Samoa suffered from a terrible misjudement when people were allowed to disembark onto the island with the flu, killing a third of the population.  In American-Samoa, careful planning meant the opposite.  Ships were quarantined and many lives saved.