1791 epidemic in Kuhmo

[Katie]

In researching Hiski records I found an epidemic that was at it's height in Jan-May of 1791 and decreased thereafter and into 1792. Also some cases were noted in late 1790. Of the 277 deaths recorded in Hiski for Kuhmo in 1791, 96 deaths were attributed to "flussfeb' AND 227 to "hits.feb" for a total of 227 or aproximately 83% of the deaths were caused by a fever. Can anyone put a name to this Fever? I am unable to locate this epidemic on the internet. I noticed that no age went untouched, from infant to the elderly died. I did go back onto the internet and found the Puumala Virus which is found in a small reddish rodent. We could be looking at some type of rodent spreading virus.
Thank You
Janice

[EevaH]

I think it must have been one of those flu epidemics which came and went almost yearly, as they still do - only they were not given names at the time. Some of them were often fatal, most were not. So far the last killler flu in Finland (probably elsewhere, as well), was what we called "the Spanish flu" 1918. One family in my home village lost 3 of their 4 kids + one adult. These diseases probably spread directly from one person to another. There might still be others to come (bird flu, pig flu, ...)

After having written that, it occurred to me to check some literature, and yes, the book: Heikki S. Vuorinen: Tauti[n]en historia ("History of disease / Diseased history) tells that there was a flu pandemic 1788-90 which started in Russia. Must have been that, though the influenzas were studied more thoroughly only after the first flu virus was discovered 1933.

[Katie]

Thank you Eva for getting back to me on this epidemic. Can you translate what flussfeb and hit.feb means? It probably was a flu that hit Kuhmo and some flu types can kill in a matter of days or a week and ofcourse back then there was no medicine except prayer to cure diseases. I found an ancestor that had 4 children and his wife that died of another fever type disease. Now I found another ancestor where both the Mother and Father died within in days of each other but their children survived in 1792. I'm going to look into that author you mentioned. It sounds very interesting and probably may be very helpful in my creating family stories when tragedy happens. Could you please translate those two illnesses for me please. I assume feb means fever.
Thank you so much.

[timotk]

Flussfeber = catarrhic fever, inflammation of the respiration canals

Hits.feb = hitsig feber = "burning fever", refers to the symptom, to the high body temperature that was characteristic of this otherwise unspecific disease

The epidemic that you describe looks very much like being a flu epidemic. I admit that I am layman in medical issues.

This is the source I used:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/hirvela/histor ... hsivu.html

[EevaH]

Hello,
As you know, in the 1700's the names of the diseases were real vague and mostly described the main symptoms. In the of causes of death 1749- by Arno Forsius the translations to Finnish are:
- flussfeber = catharral fever, repiratory tract infection, influenza
- hetsig feber = high fever ("hetsig" stems probably from the same word as "hectic" in English).
http://www.saunalahti.fi/arnoldus/kuol_syy.html

The book I mentioned is unfortunately available only in Finnish. However, it has an extensive source listing, most of the sources in English. The book is printed 2005 and its ISBN is 951-768-095-3, but it seems to be sold out
http://www.vastapaino.fi/vp/index.php?p ... uct_id=107
There is another good one, a bit newer, called Rutto ja Rukous (Pest and Prayer) about infectious diseases in pre-industrial Finland
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/luxhumana/

[taltta]

Almost at the same time (1788 - 1790) there was a war going on:
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kustaa_III:n_sota

"Kustaa III teetti venäläisiä sotilaspukuja ja lähetti ne Savon prikaatin komentajalle. Tarkoitus oli vielä väärässä asepuvussa järjestää tekosyy sodalle. Kustaan kannalta onnekkaasti venäläissotilaat eksyivät Puumalan Vuolteensalmessa rajan väärälle puolelle. Tästä syntyi 28. kesäkuuta 1788 pieni kahakka, joka riitti syyksi: Savon prikaati ylitti rajan, valtasi Savonlinnan ja aloitti Olavinlinnan piirityksen."

Gustav the 3rd wanted an excuse to start a war against russians. According to what is said above, some russian soldiers accidentially came over the border in Puumala, and that was the excuse the Swedish side wanted. There was no need for the plot with wrong uniforms they already had prepared for.

In English, a different story is found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Swed ... %931790%29

"In 1788, a head tailor of the Royal Swedish Opera received an order to sew a number of Russian military uniforms that later were used in an exchange of gunfire at Puumala, a Swedish outpost on the Russo-Swedish border, on June 27, 1788. The staged attack, which caused an outrage in Stockholm, was to convince the Riksdag of the Estates and to provide Gustav with an excuse to declare a "defensive" war on Russia."