During the 1918 flu epidemic, aspirin was used to treat symptoms, while rest, sunlight, fresh air, and hydrotherapy was another approach.

“And the thought was that it was the symptoms of the flu that was killing these patients. Well, we knew how to treat fever by giving aspirin. Aspirin had just been discovered in 1899 by the German company Bayer. And so a lot of Bayer aspirin was being used to get rid of fever, to get rid of symptoms. And we knew exactly how that went in the army camps. That was the one way of treating it. The other way of treating it was by doing what we've just been talking about, which was rest, sunlight, fresh air, and hydrotherapy.”