POSLEDICE PANDEMIJE ŠPANSKE GROZNICE U VALJEVSKOM SREZU 1918‒1919.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SPANISH FLU PANDEMIC IN VALJEVO COUNTY 1918–1919

Summary/Abstract: The Spanish Flu pandemic that afflicted the entire planet between 1918 and 1919 did not bypass the population in occupied Serbia, nor the soldiers at the Salonica front. It escalated immediately after the breakthrough of the front and culminated in the moments of delight and euphoria that followed the libera-tion. The purpose of this paper is to point to the possible entry route of the epi-demic, the chronology of its development in the Valjevo County, as well as the number of victims it took in each community. The analysis of an almost com-plete, 100% sample of church death registers shows that the population started dying at the beginning of October in the lowland areas but that the mortality there was relatively low. The epidemic spread from the plains to the more re-mote and inaccessible mountain villages, where the mortality rate was very high, so that in some communities more than 9% of the population died. The epidemic lasted through the end of 1918, while on the territories where the con-sequences were more widespread, there were noticeably less relapses after-wards. It seems that the population in the remote, inaccessible communities had a more limited access to healthcare facilities in towns and a lower awareness of public hygiene, while limited means of communication made these communities more isolated and thus lowered their herd immunity. These circumstances meant that a significantly higher percentage of rural communities contracted the disease, which in turn contributed to the subsequent buildup of herd immunity.

• Details
• Contents