Ryazantsev, C.V., Smirnov, A.V. (2023) The Pandemic of the “Russian Flu” of 1889–1890: Occurrence, Spread, Demographic Losses. Sibirskie Istoricheskie Issledovaniia – Siberian Historical Research. 2. pp. 27–54 (In Russian). doi: 10.17223 ...

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Abstract

The “Russian flu” of 1889–1890 was the first pandemic that received daily coverage in periodicals of the Russian Empire. This review is based on prerevolutionary sources (Russian Army reports, printed media, articles in Russian medical literature) with regard to the place and time of the virus emergence, transmission, symptoms, morbidity and mortality rates. Many scientific sources on the “Russian flu” pandemic state that the infection originated in Bukhara. Indeed, in mid-May 1889, there was an epidemic in the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara, which claimed the lives of 300-600 people a day. However, this version is not convincing enough for a number of reasons. First, manifestations of the disease did not correspond to the main influenza symptoms. Second, Bukhara's then-existing trade relations with Russia, Afghanistan and Persia would have led to influenza outbreaks in the three countries at the same time. Third, the influenza would primarily have seized the Syrdarya and Samara Regions neighboring Bukhara, but the infection did not appear there until late November or early December. In early October 1889, the influenza virus spread among the population of the Tomsk Province, Akmola and Semipalatinsk Regions. In mid-October, influenza appeared in large cities of the Russian Empire located on the main transport routes. While the Central part of the Russian Empire and Siberia were seized by the flu in the fall of 1889, the virus spread in the Primorsky Region and Sakhalin Island in May 1890. We assume that the total mortality from the “Russian flu” epidemic in the territory of the Russian Empire could range from 60 to 90 thousand people. The epidemic was preceded by widespread pneumonia in cattle in Western Siberia. These facts support the version that the 1889 “Russian flu” could have been caused by a coronavirus transmitted from cattle to humans. To date, there is no data on what type of virus could cause the “Russian flu” pandemic.