„ЗАГОНЕТНЕ” ЛОКАЛНЕ ЕПИДЕМИЈЕ ДИЗЕНТЕРИЈЕ У СРБИЈИ КРАЈЕМ ЛЕТА И ТОКОМ ЈЕСЕНИ 1918. ГОДИНЕ
“MYSTERIOUS” LOCAL EPIDEMICS OF DYSENTERY IN SERBIA DURING LATE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1918

Summary/Abstract: It is estimated that during the war years, 1912 to 1918, 360,000 residents of Serbia passed away from numerous infectious diseases. The big typhoid epidemic in 1915 and the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 killed around 135,000 and 115,000, respectively. The remaining 110,000 were the victims of different, small and large, local and regional epidemics that appeared throughout the war years, both among the military and the civilian population. A detailed analysis of the church death registries has shown that, during late summer and a part of autumn of 1918, an epidemic of dysentery has haunted the country, resulting in a high mortality rate. This had perspired before a wave of Spanish flu hit. The epidemic of dysentery was observed in different parts of Serbia, parts that were otherwise disconnected. Within the Valjevo region, it appeared only in Osečina and around Ljig. It was also detected in several villages of the Užice region, particularly in the parish of Seča Reka church. It was further registered in the surroundings of Aranđelovac, as well as only two villages near Smederevska Palanka. Most communities in Serbia were completely spared the deadly attack of this illness, some places endured a weaker hit, while some villages suffered significantly, and lost over 3% of their population within a few months, with the highest mortality rate, 5.22%, occurring in the village of Garaša near Aranđelovac.

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