How do information and misinformation spread during a pandemic?

These excerpts come from a booklet that was distributed to tuberculosis (TB) patients while they received treatment. The booklet’s simple language and pictures suggest that it would have been targeted at patients with a wide variety of educational levels. The booklet was made in 1962, which is interesting because Maine’s TB sanatoriums were closing around this time.

Excerpts from the booklet explain what TB is and encourage patients to take treatment seriously. Much like during the coronavirus pandemic, sick people were asked to quarantine during the TB pandemic. Both diseases can be spread through the air.

This booklet was published by the National Tuberculosis Association (now known as the American Lung Association), which was founded in 1904. A symbol on the back of the booklet that looks like a cross with two strikes through it represented the global fight against TB.

This is a letter Sumner Cobb wrote to his family in Maine. He wrote from Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky in 1918. Sumner was born in Gorham, Maine in 1895 and was around 22-23 years old when he wrote this letter.

Sumner was one of three brothers who all served in World War I. His brothers were William and Herbert. Both William and Herbert fought in the war outside of the United States while Sumner remained in America. Sumner was stationed at two military bases during his time in the army: Camp Devens in Massachusetts and Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sumner didn’t face dangers of overseas fighting and life in the trenches. However, he was at risk of contracting the Spanish Flu. It was spreading throughout the United States at the end of the war. The disease spread quickly in military camps where soldiers lived close together. He wrote about it a lot in his letters home between September and October 1918.

By the sound of the letters, Sumner did not become sick with the flu during his time in the army. Sumner and William both survived the war, but Herbert was killed on October 14, 1918 just one month before the end of the war on November 11.

This booklet cover from the John Hancock Life Insurance company of Boston, MA shows a young woman seated by the bed of a child. She is handing the child a cup. The child is propped up on pillows and is tucked in with a doll and story book.

At this time, women had extra caregiving duties because of World War I. Many men were off fighting overseas as the pandemic raged at home, leaving women to care for the children.

At the time when this booklet was published, the country was dealing with an influenza pandemic. The 1918 flu pandemic was also called “The Spanish Flu.”

This is a photograph of a newspaper storefront (likely the Portland “Evening Express”) in Monument Square in Portland, Maine. Because of the World War I information in the poster, we know that the photo was taken between the Armistice in November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed in June 1919.

The man standing in front is Alexander Boothby. The posters in the window talk about Spanish Flu casualties, World War I peace talks, women’s division recruitment, war bonds, and the Red Cross. The news board reads, “Influenza has killed 8,000,000 in three months in the entire world.”

This advertisement was placed in a 1913 newspaper. It advertises “Dr. D.P. Ordway’s Last and Best Liniment,” a medicine made in Portland, Maine. The label suggests that the company started in 1881 and this formula was created in 1912. A “liniment” is a liquid or lotion that is made to rub on the body to relieve pain or other medical problems. “Bronchial complaints” are issues with the bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs.

At this time in history, both tuberculosis and polio were spreading across Maine and the globe. Because this product is advertised for lung issues such as bronchial complaints and pneumonia, it is very likely that people with tuberculosis could have used it.

The label says that the liniment is mostly alcohol, with opium and chloroform. At the time, alcohol and opium were common ingredients in medicine. These are also highly addictive substances that can dull pain. Chloroform is a chemical byproduct of water disinfected with chlorine. It was used as an anesthetic (to put people to sleep before surgery), a painkiller, and a cough medication.

However, today we know that chloroform is toxic for the kidneys and liver. One of the earliest reports of this was in 1848 when a 15-year-old girl died from the medicine. Even after it became clear that chloroform had dangerous effects, it was still used in mouthwashes and ointments. Finally, in 1976, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of chloroform.

This product claims to treat everything from headaches to dog bites. Medicines like this are called “cure-alls,” which usually means they don’t really cure anything! It’s impossible for us to know for sure whether Dr. Ordway’s Liniment hurt people’s health. However, many companies still sold dangerous medicines to consumers even after their toxicity was widely known. Sometimes the harm was from ignorance, sometimes from greed.