The Spanish flu pandemic was one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. It is believed that in the period 1918-1920, across the world, more than 500 million people fell ill, and the latest estaimates are that between 50 and 100 million died. In Europe 2 million are thought to have died. The second wave of the pandemic, between September and December 1918, affected Slovene lands; in Ljubljana and the area around it 414 people died of Spanish flu in the autumn of that year. The way that Spanish flu affected school pupils and teachers in Ljubljana is one of the few aspects of the epidemic to have been documented, pointing indirectly to just how widespread it was. The percentage of affected pupils in Ljubljana schools ranged from 16 % to 75 %.
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