Bacteria were the real killers in 1918 flu pandemic, which is good news, in a sense, because we now have antibiotics — and they still work:
The more they investigated, the more bacteria emerged as the true killers, an idea now supported by most influenza experts.For instance, had a super virus been responsible for most deaths, one might expect people to die fairly rapidly, or at least for most cases to follow a similar progression. However, Shanks and Brundage found that few people died within three days of showing symptoms, while most people lasted more than a week, some survived two — all hallmarks of pneumonia.
Military health records for barracks and battleships also painted a different picture. New recruits — men unlikely to have been exposed to resident bacteria — died in droves, while soldiers whose immune systems were accustomed to the local bugs survived.
And most compelling, Brundage says, medical experts of the day identified pneumonia as the cause of most deaths.
(Hat tip to FuturePundit.)