Importancia de la viruela, gastroenteritis aguda y paludismo ... - Oulu

430
− Inoculation: practiced for the first time in Finland in 1754, didn’t reach much
popularity but perhaps in Ostrobothnia at the end of the 18th century (Forsius 2004c,
Björkstén 1902).
− A process of natural selection of the Finnish population induced by the virus.
− A change in the virulence of the virus.
The role played by these three factors among others remains as interesting questions to
try to solve in future studies, especially the importance of inoculation.
5.3 Spatial distribution
The spatial distribution of the importance of the diseases analyzed is plotted in the maps
of Figure 4. The scale used in those maps is regional, while maps detailed to the parish
level can be found in the CD attached.
Fig. 4. Maps of Finland showing the regional importance of the three causes of death under
study, for the period 1749-1850.
The first map in the figure shows the regional importance of smallpox, as a cause of
death, during the whole period of study. The disease seems to have been endemic in all
the regions of the country, not existing areas more affected than others with the possible
exception of eastern regions. The average percentage of deaths caused by the disease is
around 4%. The southern part of the country, the most densely populated area, may have
acted as a reservoir for the virus. This can be appreciated in the figure 74 in the main text
of the dissertation.
In the second map can be seen how gastroenteric diseases were important all over the
country. Rare is the region where they were responsible for less than 4% of all the deaths.
This syndrome was especially important in Ostrobothnia and the southeast of the country,