- A remarkable 50 million were thought to have died as a result of the influenza epidemic of 1918, is there a better explanation for why so many people died? Surprising amount of people were found to have bleeding in the lungs, a strange symptom of the flu and a known side effect from aspirin overdose. In this article Dana Ullman, MPH, CCH points out a safer, Homeopathic treatments of Influenza.