[Epidemiological situation of the selected infectious diseases in Poland in 1918-1939]

In Poland, during twenty years between the first and the second world war modern methods and remedies were created and applied to save the society from biological extermination caused by the epidemics of acute infectious diseases that existed in the larger areas of the country and other diseases that could threaten the society when brought from abroad. Poland regained its independence in 1918 as a country completely destroyed by war and encompassed three partitioned sectors that differed in wealth, class consciousness, various infrastructure, legislation, epidemiological situation of infectious diseases and threats spreading from abroad. Infectious diseases such as typhus fever, typhoid fever, cholera, smallpox, dysentery and other diseases spreading by alimentary tracts caused the greatest epidemiological problem. The considerable number of smallpox cases was noted in 1920-1922. In the thirties only individual cases occurred. Since 1934 no fatal cases of smallpox were registered. In 1919, in Poland 219,688 cases and 18,641 typhus fever deaths were registered. Between 1930 and 1939 the annual number of cases ranged from 2000 to 4000. In Poland each year between the first and the second world war typhoid fever was a serious sanitary problem. The largest outbreak of dysentery occurred in Poland in 1920-1921 and comprised 64,000 cases, among them 10,000 deaths. Acute childhood diseases such as scarlet fever and diphtheria were in Poland endemic. Number of registered cases was variable.