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Pandemics: avoiding the mistakes of 1918

As bodies piled up, the United States' response to the 'Spanish flu' was to tell the public that there was no cause for alarm. The authority figures who glossed over the truth lost their credibility, says John M. Barry.

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References

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See Commentary, page 322 , and for coverage of the H1N1 outbreak: http://www.nature.com/swineflu . Discuss this topic on Nature Network: http://network.nature.com/groups/naturenewsandopinion/forum/topics/4662

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Barry, J. Pandemics: avoiding the mistakes of 1918. Nature 459, 324–325 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459324a

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