The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 in Russia. Questions a hundred years later

Abstract

The course of the Spanish flu on the territory of the former Russian Empire is not well studied. This is due to the state of the medical statistics during the times of the Civil War. The medical data was collected more diligently by the Soviet Russia rather than by the officials of the White Army.This article discusses the timeline, symptoms, morbidity and mortality of the Spanish flu. The materials used in this article were obtained from the regional hospital archives, printed publications, and personal memoirs.The virus of the Spanish flu has initially entered the territory of Russia at the end of August of 1918 through the demarcation line with the German army at the temporary western border defined by the Treaty of Brest. In the beginning of September the virus was carried out by the Allies army through the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. In the European part of Russia, the outbreak started around September–November of 1918. So far, there is not enough data regarding pandemic flu in Siberia and Far East region of Russia. The unknown illness that undermined the combat capability of the 11th Red Army at the end of the fall of 1918 was likely of viral etiology. There was no evidence found that pandemic flu in Russia had high mortality.The possible correlation between atypical malignant nature of typhus and relapsing fever, the epidemics of which began in the fall of 1918, and the previous exposure of the population to the influenza virus has been hypothesized. Another hypothesis under discussion is about the possible correlation between outbreaks of the malaria and measles and subsequent susceptibility to the pandemic Spanish flu virus.