L'epidemia "spagnola" in Terra d'Otranto (1918-1919)

Also in the districts of Lecce and Gallipoli in 1918 and early 1919 there was an epidemic influenza, called "the Spanish", which broke out throughout Europe, especially in the autumn of 1918. After a first little aggressive wave in the spring, a second wave began with lethal virulence in late autumn, and a third, from late December 1918 to spring 1919, but with a significant reduction of virulence. It was a "strange" epidemic, with the morbidity, mortality and lethality never seen and that put in difficulty the health organization with few doctors, nurses and pharmacists. The doctors had no treatment and were ill-equipped, like the authorities. A new influenza that particularly affected young people, women and children, sparing the elderly. It was obscured by military censorship and the press to avoid social alarm, and in the early months of 1919 mysteriously disappeared.