EPIDEMIC ‘SPANISH’ INFLUENZA

50,000,000 deaths worldwide

WESTERN SAMOA

8,500 deaths 25% population

Arrival of contagion: by ship SS Talune, November 7, 1918

Quarantine: none

NZ Military administrator: blocked attempts to set up aid stations

NZ Military administrator : refused medical team and supplies from American Samoa

Food refused to sick children

Crops withered with no-one to tend them

AMERICAN SAMOA

No deaths.

Quarantine: all arriving ships

Comparison shows quarantine and medical care can prevent epidemic deaths.

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