And instead of fixing a requirement that hospitals keep logs of infectious disease cases, in 2012 the United States eliminated this requirement and used our current spotty federal tracking system as justification. In past epidemics, the cause and mechanism of the spread of infection and even vaccines were desperately sought-after, but academic pride and competition often impeded science. No better example was the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed more soldiers in World War I than did the war itself. Academic pride perpetuated the myth that the primary cause was a bacteria and not a virus. In the past few decades, another powerful factor, that of industrial profits and conflicts of interest has emerged.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 16, 2019 10:07 UTC