Could mass Aspirin overdose have contributed to the death rate in the 1918 pandemic?

Could an over-the-counter, off-patent, heavily advertised, cure-all drug, taken in excess by a paniced public be responsible for symptoms of "influenza", and/or contribute to the high death toll?

It was several months ago that I first came across the article I will be featuring in this Stack, titled “ASPIRIN A DANGEROUS QUACK NOSTRUM”. When I first read it I realised it was significant but that I knew nothing about the history of aspirin. The one thing I did know was a comment that has stayed with me over the years, which was made by my friend who was a med-student at the time, they told me they had learnt “aspirin kills nephrons”. I’ve actually avoided aspirin ever since that day.

Nephrons are an important functional part of the kidneys, which made me immediately think of the role remdesivir played in the 2020 pandemic! So I wondered, could aspirin have contributed to the death rate in 1918-19 pandemic? Let’s explore that possibility.

First, some background information about Aspirin

Aspirin is the trade name of the drug acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) which was discovered on August 10, 1897 by Felix Hoffman a scientists working for Farbenfabriken, a German dye manufacturing company, which would soon become known as Bayer. Though there is dispute whether Hoffman should be credited with the discovery.¹

The chemical’s origins trace back to the ancient use of Willow Bark², but since that time went through many transformations before reaching the synthetic derivative known by the trade name of Aspirin.

The trademark name A-spir-in is derived from “a” for acetyl, “spir” from the spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix “in,” commonly used for medications.³

In 1826 Henri Leroux isolated “salicin” from willow bark,⁴ which because of its acidity in water, the compound became more commonly known as salicylic acid. The compound was eventually produced industrially from coal tar through a process discovered by Herman Kolbe.

ASA had a more pleasant taste than it’s predecessor Salicylic acid, which helped with it’s rapid acceptance.

The US Patent for acetylsalicylic acid was applied for on August 1, 1898 and the Aspirin trademark on March 6, 1899. The patent was granted February 27, 1900 and expired February 27, 1917.

In 1899, Bayer sent information on aspirin to nearly 30,000 doctors. Soon, it was the world's best-selling drug, and Bayer began branching out its production to capitalize on its success, including a plant in New York.⁵

When the US entered World War I in April 1917, the Bayer Company’s US property rights were seised by Alien Property Custodian before being auctioned off.

Mass Advertising Campaign

Before 1915-1916, Bayer promoted Aspirin directly to doctors, but leading up to the patent expiry date, they used “clever ad-writers” to promote Aspirin as a “cure for everything, from headache to toeache” to the general public.⁶

The mass advertising campaign flooded the press media leading up to and during the 1918 pandemic. The general public was conditioned that Aspirin would be their saviour.

Examples of Aspirin ads ran in just one New York newspaper during 1917-1918 - source

Aspirin’s mode-of-action wasn’t known until the 1970’s!

It wasn’t until 1970’s that the chemical’s mode of action was “cracked” and the group of chemicals it belonged to became known as NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) which inhibit the synthesis of a group of hormone-like substances that normally drive prostaglandin production. This knowledge awarded the discoverer, Sir John Vane, the Nobel Prize and a Knighthood.⁷ As reported in a recently removed web page (I only bookmarked it in the past few months!), Aspirin has wide ranging effects and side effects:

Prostaglandins have a wide variety of effects, acting as messenger molecules for inflammation and being involved in pain transmission to the brain and in internal temperature regulation. Their suppression explains the analgesic (pain-relieving), anti-inflammatory, and fever-reducing effects that make NSAIDs so popular. NSAIDs also thin the blood and inhibit blood-clot formation through a similar mechanism, which is why aspirin has recently taken on a new and significant role in the prevention and treatment of heart attacks and strokes.

NSAIDs can have serious side effects when taken regularly or in large doses, most notably gastrointestinal symptoms,…Aspirin has also been linked to Reye's syndrome, a deadly illness associated with viral infections, which is why aspirin is no longer used to treat flu-like symptoms in children.

Now, armed with all this information, imagine what would happen in a population that was driven to fear by public health promoted mask wearing and daily death numbers, and an orthodox medical profession that was at a loss how to effectively treat this sweeping illness?

“Aspirin a Dangerous Quack Nostrum”

At the 35th annual convention of the Southern Homoeopathic Medical Association held November 19-21, 1919, Dr. W. A. Dewey read "a timely paper upon the evils of the nation-wide abuse of aspirin and of the unwarranted claims made for this drug."⁸

The following is Dr Dewey’s paper as published in The Homoeopathic Recorder
April 15, 1920, from page 157, it is very revealing.

source

(Bold and formatting changes are mine, I will add comments along the way and some links.)

ASPIRIN A DANGEROUS QUACK NOSTRUM.
By W. A. Dewey, M. D., University cf Michigan.

Aspirin is the trade name for Acetylsalicylic acid. It was patented by the Farbenfabriken, of Elberfield Company, (Germany, Feb. 27, 1900, U. S. patent number 644,077, expiring in1917. The trade mark Aspirin was registered about the same time and is numbered 32,805.

The extensive properties of the Bayer concern in America were seized by the alien property custodian and sold, whereupon an extensive campaign of advertising has followed. Nearly every newspaper of note has for over a year carried on its pages the Aspirin Bayer advertisement, and a determined attempt to perpetuate the monopoly on the drug is being industriously carried on.

The price of Aspirin while the patent was in effect was $8.80 per thousand, but on the expiration of the patent it declined to $4.40. The profit in it has been enormous, and to the time of the entry of the United States into the war, Germany derived great benefit from this by-product of the dye industry, exploited skillfully as a drug of therapeutic value.

It is the continuance of the Aspirin Bayer monopoly that is sought by the widespread advertising now running. It is specifically stated in every instance that Aspirin Bayer must be asked for to insure purity, etc., and the wild cat stories of contamination by talcum powder are probably merely a part of the propaganda methods of which are decidedly German, such as the statement that "nearly 2,000,000 ounces of counterfeit Aspirin are being sold in the U. S. annually."

Well maybe the German’s were good at propaganda, but American’s and British were up there with the best of them too! It was a time of war, so such a comment would not be out of place. Remember this is written by a homeopath who’s founder is Hahnemann, a German.

There are at least seven American firms that manufacture Aspirin, and the quality is as good or better in each instance as the Bayer product. Little stock should be taken in the pronunciamento of the Bayer Company that counterfeit Aspirin is being sold by everyone except themselves. What counterfeit Aspirin there is on the market is possibly due to the characteristic German methods of propagandizing their own wares.

Let us look at the advertisements that are at this moment to be seen in the press of the country. What do we find? Something addressed to the medical profession? No. The following addressed to the laity:

Headache. Toothache. Earache. Neuralgia. Rheumatism. Neuritis. Lumbago. Joint pains. Pain in general. Colds.

Here we have the whole gamut of the quack advertiser and the promulgator of proprietary medicines for the past fifty years.

It reads like an Antikamnia ad., a Heroin ad., or a Cocaine ad.

Heroin and Cocaine were common drugs prescribe by “medical science” doctors of the day, I’m not surprised there were so many “insane asylums” back then.

Any one remedy which claims to relieve all the above conditions irrespective of their causes, may be branded at once as a dangerous nostrum without further examination.

In other words, Aspirin stands convicted by its advertisements as a nerve deadening drug, and should be classed with Opium, Heroin, Cocaine, Antikamnia, Phenacetin, et al., for which the same claims have been made.

Headache powders contain Aspirin and the Journal of the Amer. Pharm. Assoc, says: "One of the best sellers in the drug stores to-day."

WHAT IS THE ACTION OF ASPIRIN ?

A thorough examination of all the works on pharmacology and materia medica issued since its introduction fails to reveal any knowledge whatever of its action or uses beyond that which appears in the advertisements of the substance written by the manufacturers.

Shoemaker (1901) dismisses it by saying that its action is identical with Salicylic acid.
Cuthbert (1917) does not mention it.
Bastedo (1918) gives nothing different as to its action.
Cushny (1918) says: "Recently introduced, largely employed: appeared under numerous designations of later years and much exaggerated claims have been made for it as a remedy for most diverse conditions."

Unfortunately there is no further information about these citations so I wasn’t able to follow up, but we’ve already established that the mode of action was not discovered until the 1970s.

If one turns to Germany, however, one will find glowing reports of its action and its safety. Thus Floeckinger in 1899 says its action is marked by absence of tinnitis (New and Non-Official Remedies says it must be given until tinnitis appears), absence of cardiac depression and absence of impaired appetite. All false statements.

The Journal of the A. M. A., Jan. 25, 1911, says: "It should be listed as one of the dangerous drugs."

Likewise an industrious search through the literature, periodical and other, for some tangible reasons for the use of Aspirin, some scientific observations thereupon, or something upon which to found its popular uses reveals nothing save the following illuminating sentences:

"Said to possess advantages over Salicylic acid by producing less of the undesirable systemic effects on account of the slow liberation of Salicylic acid."

It is said to pass the stomach unchanged, decomposition beginning in the intestines. Dose, 5 to 15 grains.

A “grain” was a unit of measurement I was not familiar with. According to online conversion 1 grain equals 64.8 milligrams (mg). So 5 to 15 grains is equivalent to 324 to 972 mg. A standard Aspirin tablet today is 325mg.

TOXICOLOGY.

In one case it produced vomiting, weak irregular pulse, haemorrhages from the bowels, unconsciousness and death. Post mortem showed small intestine uniformly inflamed, caecum and colon loaded with blood clots, and a sharp line of demarcation between the healthy and diseased parts showing that decomposition begins only in the intestine and is dangerous.

It has in other cases produced oedema of the lips, tongue and eyelids, nose and face. Urticarial rashes, vertigo, nausea and cyanosis. Its effect is always destructive and the toxaemia produced is clearly pathological.

It has been repeatedly observed that a mixture of Aspirin and Quinine is distinctly poisonous, the combination producing quinotoxine, which in at least one instance produced death, yet we have recently seen the following prescription made by a physician and compounded by a druggist:

Aspirin.
Quinine sulphate.
Dover's powder, aa q. s. grains v.

Bastedo states that he observed at least three cases of acute nephritis following its use.

Nephritis - destruction of the nephrons - kidney damage?!

We may summarize the absolute effects of Aspirin as far as scientific data upon it are to be found:

"Produces a mental condition similar to that found in the morphine habit.''
(Jour. A. M. A., 1914.)

"Produces violent palpitation of the heart, deficient respiration, weakness approaching unconsciousness pointing to syncope."
(British Medical Journal.)

What symptoms do respiratory illnesses produce? Could aspirin overdose have contributed to “influenza” like symptoms?

In one case it produced numbness, anaesthesia, and angioneurotic oedema, and in another it produced nephritis, blue ringer nails (cyanosis) and deficient breathing.

An eruption was produced on the head and face and in the mouth and throat following a five grain dose.
(Jour. Clin. Med., 1912.)

"Salicylates are known to have a deleterious influence on the digestive function and in larger doses or when long continued are frequently accompanied by symptoms of cinchonism similar to those produced by Quinine. The Salicylates may also have a depressing influence on the central nervous system accompanied by convulsions, slowing of respiration and collapse from circulatory depression."
(Drug Intoxication, U. S. Public Health Bulletin, No. 227, 1914.)

Disturbances in the sensory centers, vision and hearing. Sensitive nerve tissue is paralyzed. It produces a poverty of the blood, a prolonged and severe anaemia. The primary action is stimulation, hence it is being now largely used by dope fiends to take the place of those drugs that are difficult to procure, but the reaction following its use is dangerous.

We know of several morphine habitues who have substituted the easily procurable Aspirin for it with disastrous effects to heart and circulation. Being so readily obtained without even a physician's prescription, it is being used in large quantities by drug addicts of all kinds, and the present advertising campaign is helping to defeat those who are endeavoring to banish the drug addiction habits of our people.

The Use of Aspirin in Influenza

THE USE OF ASPIRIN IN INFLUENZA.

Dr. Simon Baruch, of New York, says in the Therapeutic Gazette of June, 1919:

"It was a painful disillusion to learn that these powerful agents (coal tar derivatives) only enabled the patient to die with a lower temperature while the mortality continued and even increased under their excessive use." …"They especially handicapped the heart just as the influenza poison does."

By “influenza poison” I suspect this doctor means whatever the causal agent for the “influenza” sickness might be.

Dr. Albert Doerschuk, of Kansas City, Mo., writes as follows:

"These drugs in remedies, preventives and cures for the 'grippe' were swallowed by tons last winter by hysterical people who went beyond all advice in self-medication.

Women numb in every limb, with barely enough intelligence to find the way home, from the effects of the preventive medicine, were suffering from the 'flu.' Men with intense pains on top of their heads and eyes bulging out from the Salicylates (Aspirin) had the 'flu.' Many persons were in bed from the prostration of the drugs taken instead of from the 'flu.'

We can corroborate the above remarks from personal observation.

So there you are. Comment from the day that Aspirin was causing the “flu” symptoms!

Dr. C. T. Hood, in the Clinitjue. Jan., 1919, says that the public is told that "if ten grains of Aspirin two or three times in 24 hours would be of service, ten grains six to eight times a day was better. People have been and are buying Aspirin in 100 and 500 packages and taking it by the dozen, by so doing they are driving the tack in their own door post upon which to hang the crepe."

Let’s look at that again!

The doctors of “medical science” are promoting “more is better”! Lets do the maths on these Aspirin dose rates, where one grain is equivalent to 64.8 milligrams (mg):

• 10 grains Aspirin 2 or 3 time in 24 hrs equates to 20-30 grains per day or 1295 to 1944 milligrams which is already an overdose - I’ll call this the “label dose.”

• But the public is told 10 grains 6 to 8 times in 24 hours is better, this equates to 60-80 grains or 3888 to 5184 milligrams in 24 hours - I’ll call this the “overdose”.

• An FDA approved Aspirin label today states do not exceed 12 tablets (325mg each) in 24 hrs which equates to 3900mg.

The below graph show a label dose versus the overdose for one 24 hour period.

Graphical representation of Aspirin dosage

How many Americans were overdosing on Aspirin out of fear? Were they taking it as a preventative and making themselves sick?

Listen to this from a late number of the Therapeutic Digest in reference to the leading role of Aspirin in the recent epidemic of influenza:

"The routine treatment laid down in the army hospitals embraced the use of the coal tar derivatives and in cases of pneumonia large doses of Digitalis were ordered at frequent intervals. The rationale of this treatment is difficult to understand.

We have here a disease or a complex of diseases which throws a heavy strain on the heart and are ordered to give coal tar derivatives which are heart depressants.

When pneumonia sets in we are instructed to give huge doses of Digitalis at frequent intervals, which would cause the heart to drive more blood into the lungs already overcrowded. The action of Digitalis in this case would undoubtedly add to the congestion and increase the area of the lung involved. This routine treatment has undoubtedly been responsible for a considerable part of the excessive mortality."

Much of the mortality in the recent epidemic of influenza was due to its indiscriminate use. We have seen that it is a depressing drug, that it poisons the heart and circulation, that it also poisons the blood itself, and that it stupefies the mind. Add these effects to the general depressing effect of the influenza toxaemia and death is sure to follow.

CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS.

It was observed that the use of Aspirin was unfavorable throughout its employment.

First.—Cases treated with it that recovered did so in an incomplete manner and the convalescence was unduly prolonged.

Second.—Its action was slow to appear and only appeared after several hours and then in a cumulative manner.

Third.—We may assert without fear of successful contradiction that pneumonia, pulmonary oedema and septicaemia were more frequently the results of the Aspirin treatment than the result of the influenza poison, for the reason that there was none of these complications in influenza cases treated from the beginning without this drug.

A physician who had charge of an extensive hospital barracks in one of our military camps bears out the writer in these observations. He states that he was able to tell instantly upon seeing a patient for the first time whether he had taken Aspirin or not, so evident was its unfavorable action.

This statement reveals that soldiers were likely self-medicating with Aspirin. It also reveals that Aspirin’s side effect were obvious to the observant physician, and that it complicated the patients recovery and likely contributed to, or maybe caused the escalation to pneumonia and sepsis.

Another physician practising in a small country town in central Illinois told the writer that out of a large number of cases treated from the start without Aspirin there was no mortality, while in those who had taken Aspirin themselves or had it given to them by friends or physicians the mortality was very great.

There can be no better reason for the existence of the homoeopathic school of medicine than is furnished by a comparison of the results of homoeopathic treatment of influenza and pneumonia with those of the therapeutically floundering allopathic school, driven by the paucity of its therapeutic measures to a quack nostrum on the transcendent scientific basis of "said to be good," and upon absolutely no other basis.

There is no more scientific reason for the use of Aspirin by the profession or the laity than there is for Perry Davis' Pain Killer or Radway's Ready Relief. The latter are indeed safer as they are controlled by government regulations while Aspirin is not. It is only the government, however, that can successfully buck against the wide spreading popularity found in the press of to-day backed by the Aspirin monopoly. This can only be done by prohibitive legislation. It is ridiculous beyond conception to rule that an excess of one-half of one per cent, of alcohol is intoxicating and allow Aspirin to be sold freely over the drug counters of the country.

After reading this article, and other information provided in the archives it is hard to believe that the excess mortality in 1918 was solely due to a pathogen. Just like today, effective treatments and cures were suppressed and ridiculed, and many died through government sanctioned, medical and drug malfeasance.

So what contribution did over-the-counter Aspirin, and other physician administered coal-tar drugs and bacterial vaccines contribute to the excess death toll during the 1918 pandemic? I will continue to report my finding from the archives to help reveal the hidden knowledge, so you can make up your own mind.

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1. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/eichengrun-arthur

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20190610045701/https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325aspirin.html

3. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bayer-patents-aspirin

4. https://worldneurologyonline.com/article/controversial-story-aspirin/

5. https://web.archive.org/web/20190610045701/https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325aspirin.html

6. https://archive.org/details/americanjournal145unkngoog/page/732/mode/2up?view=theater&q=aspirin

7. https://web.archive.org/web/20190610045701/https://pubsapp.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325aspirin.html

8. https://archive.org/details/pathicreco34inte/page/552/mode/2up?q=aspirin&view=theater