Though hucksters touting quack medicines are rarely challenged, the U.S. Surgeon General during the 1918 Spanish Flu, Rupert Blue, warned the public that there was no cure and urged patience until a vaccine was developed. The Public Health Service cautioned that “many alleged remedies do more harm than good.” Alas, then as now, knowledgeable officials were often not heeded. Read more about the deadly Spanish flu pandemic a century ago in On the Shore, a tale of conflict between generations in a Lower East Side immigrant family (see NOVELS).
