zlacker

Yes good point . It's widely accepted nowadays that the Spanish Flu did not originate in Spain, yet that was the common belief at the time.

I think it also bears pointing out that, in the US at least, we largely failed to detect that the virus was spreading inside the country for some time - even after knowing said virus existed and with plenty of warning, so you have to wonder in retrospect how effective some of these so-called surveillance systems even are. It's easy to not find anything amiss when you aren't looking.