Nine Epidemies

An hospital room during the "Swamp Fever" outbreak of 1910

The Nine Epidemies (Mtl: °| ఒకనిలి, B'olon Okanil) is the name given to nine different outbreaks of infectious diseases that struck the Divine Kingdom during the last decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. They participate to a general climate of social and political turmoil during this period, taking places during the Great Arms Race, the Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911, the Belfro-Mutulese War of 1928, and the Orientalist Regeneration. The Nine Epidemies are generally divided into three categories : the Three Fevers (Mtl: °°° కతన, Ox Katan) (The Yellow fever of 1897, Swamp Fever of 1910, and the Black fever of 1940), the Three Dengues (Mtl: °°° తొక, Ox Tok) (of 1901, 1933, and 1950), and the Three Influenzas (Mtl: °°° యబిలి, Ox Yabil) (Of 1889, the Mutulese Flu of 1915, and the Reze Flu of 1940).

History

Influenza of 1889

The 1889 Flu was a deadly epidemy that affected around 15% of the population of the Mutul at the time. Researchers have managed to identify the virus as a subtype H3 of the Influenza A, possibly the H3N8 subtype which may have been carried to the Mutul through infected dogs from Scipia. It is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 people died of the Flu thourough the year, 0,2% of the Divine Kingdom's total population at the time. It is generally remembered as the first of the "Three Influenzas", but is obscured by the following Mutulese Flu which killed around 2% of the total population of the Mutul.

Yellow Fever Outbreak of 1897

The Yellow fever probably first appeared in Oxidentale in the aftermath of the Rezeses expeditions to Scipia during the 9th and 10th centuries AD. The relative isolation of communities at the time limited the spread of the disease, which mean that it only became noteworthy in the Mutul following the establishment of Mutulese Ochran and was first called "Xekik", "blood vomit". The Outbreak of 1897 was especially deadly, affecting not only sugar plantations and western portuary cities, but almost every major settlements of the country as well, once again helped by modern transports and rail networks. It was the last large-scale outbreak of the disease as afterward, extensive sanitary measures were taken, until the fever was reduced to pocket of jungles and other isolated areas where it survived in population of howler monkeys and other primates from where it periodically spread in small outbreaks to this day.

Dengue outbreak of 1901

Like the yellow fever, Dengue reached Oxidentale sometime between the 9th and 10th centuries AD as Rezeses traders brought back the Aedes aegypti from their travels to Scipia. The Dengue became a known and common disease in the Divine Kingdom since the time of the Mutulese Ochran when growing international trades made epidemic outbreaks of various diseases easier. The existence of four different serotypes of dengue virus and a short-lived cross-immunity make Dengue outbreaks a recuring event in the Mutul: every six months or so.

As the sanitary precautions taken after the Yellow fever of 1897 had not yet been fully implemented while the Rural flight to the major industrial hubs of the Mutul continued because of the ongoing "Arm-Race" with Belfras, the 1901 Dengue outbreak had tragic consequences with the virus spreading far and wide through the slums and other lower class neighborhoods. The exact number of death is unknown, but is estimated to have been around 0.1 to 0.25 percents of the Divine Kingdom's total population. The perceived accelerated rate of viral epidemies caused by Aedes aegypti led to the Divine Throne reinforcing the sanitary policies taken four years before, and launching vast a period of "Sanitary Fervour" among the population through propaganda.

Swamp Fever outbreak of 1910

Documents made public by the Divine Throne revealed the existence of a Swamp fever outbreak during the year 1910. The disease was especially common in the Mutul due to the excellent climatic and ecologic conditions the virus can find there, with many tropical swamps and humid areas near, if not inside, large population centers such as K'alak Muul. The worsening political situation between the Mutul and Belfras led to the Divine Throne censoring all mentions of an outbreak even happening in the country, to not reduce public morale. It is possible that this silence worsened the situation, but the lack of hard numbers or written sources limit our understanding of the situation.

Mutulese Flu

Main article: Mutulese Flu

The 1915 Influenza Epidemic, or Mutulese Flu, was the most deadly influenza epidemic to have touched the Divine Kingdom with a third of the total population affected and leaving 2 millions casualties behind it which came on top of the lives lost during the Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911. The viral infection itself was not more deadly than any previous influenza, but the special circumstances of the epidemic (malnourishment, overcrowded medical camps and hospitals, poor hygiene) promoted bacterial superinfection that killed most of the victims, typically after a somewhat prolonged death bed.