The Spanish Flu in Belgium, 1918–1919. A State of the Art ... : Die Spanische Grippe in Belgien 1918–1919. Ein Stand der Technik ...

This article provides the first comprehensive overview of the severity and impact of the Spanish flu in Belgium (1918–1919) and thereby makes a long overdue connection with the extensive international literature on pandemics in general and Spanish flu in particular. Leveraging ego documents (diaries), municipal-level excess mortality, and individual-level cause-of-death registers, we present new evidence on the chronology and spatial distribution of Spanish flu mortality in Belgium in 1918 and 1919 as well as social and demographic characteristics of the Spanish flu deaths in the city of Antwe... Mehr ...