The influenza epidemic in Portugal, 1918-1919

Ambulance of the Portuguese Red Cross in Lisbon, 1918.  Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa

The 1918  influenza pandemic was a catastrophe on a global scale and was directly related to the Great War.  Official statistics estimates that it resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

According to Portuguese official statistics, 55,780 people died of the flu in 1918, but as in other countries, this number can be much higher.

 The paper Coimbra’s response to the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic, seen from the viewpoint of a local newspaper (HCSM vol.25 no.3 July/Sept. 2018) presents a  systematic analysis of the newspaper Gazeta de Coimbra revealing the urban elite’s perception of this health disaster.

Ana Maria Diamantino Correia (Universidade de Coimbra) concludes that the influenza epidemic occupied a central role in the pages of the newspaper in 1918 and 1919.  The author also points out that the newspaper reflects the dissatisfaction of the population during the epidemic, not only because of the aggressive virus but also because of the authorities’ demonstrated impotence.