VOJNA, LAKOTA IN BOLEZEN: PO SLEDEH ŠPANSKE GRIPE V KOPRU.

The author presents a case study on influenza epidemic in Koper (Capodistria) between the autumn of 1918 and the spring of 1919. The epidemic outbreak is placed within the context of a long-lasting indigence, malnutrition (protein low and deficient food) and poverty, which was a direct consequence of the war and which strongly affected the immunity of the population in the region, with Trieste and smaller Istrian coastal towns included. Besides, chaotic political situation (war ending, changing of authorities and establishing provisional administrative structures after the end of the Austrian rule and before the final reestablishment of Italian authority in the Julian March) was not in favour of the hard situation and led to disorganized confrontation with health issues, absence of physicians and medicine shortage s. The paper tries to reconstruct the epidemic situation through scarce quantitative data (parish registers) and narrative sources (newspapers, memoirs, school chronicles etc.). Methodological obstacles in evidencing the appearance of this disease, are especially regarding inconsequent and non-uniform recording of the cause of death in the parish registers, lack of morbidity data due to non-obligatory announcing of influenza cases, prevalence of political topics but also the censorship, to which the daily (and other) press of the time was subjected. Despite these limitations, the paper tries to contribute, at least in part, to the deficient knowledge about the living conditions and social circumstances of the civilian population within the Julian March at the very end of the World War I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]