Is not Bacillus a bacteria? Does that mean the Spanish flu was a bacteria and not a virus?
Most deaths were actually caused by bacterial pneumonia rather than the flu virus alone.
Don’t know why this says “Bacillus,” as this was definitely an influenza virus. The Bacillus bacteria are rod-shaped. I have no idea of what such virus particles look like, but perhaps these reminded the scientist of such bacteria. Just guessing here.
And, of course, the nomenclature has surely changed a great deal over these 100 plus years.
They didn’t have a clear idea of what a virus was in 1918. They still thought it was a bacteria just too small to observe.