The earliest record of the Spanish flu appeared at Camp Funston in Kansas, United States. Before lunch on March 11, 1918, a soldier in the camp felt feverish, with a sore throat and headache, and went to the unit hospital. The doctor believed he had an ordinary cold.
Yet what followed was unexpected. By noon, more than a hundred soldiers had developed similar symptoms. By the weekend a few days later, the camp already had over five hundred "cold" patients.
It soon spread to three other cities, including Detroit, and rapidly began to proliferate. In April, infected people carried the virus into Europe, where it swiftly spread.
In June, the flu reached Bulgaria. Ferdinand declared nationwide martial law and launched an all-out epidemic prevention campaign.
In order to carry out epidemic prevention properly, the Ministry of Health forcibly instituted the following health regulations:
1. Everyone had to take at least two hot baths every week. The water had to be boiled first and used only after it had cooled naturally; cold baths were prohibited.
2. All drinking water had to be boiled; raw water was forbidden.
3. Hands had to be washed with disinfectant before meals, and factories and businesses were required to install faucets.
4. Public places had to be disinfected every day, while all residential areas were to be exterminated for pests, chiefly mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and the like.
5. Pets were to be isolated. Close contact with animals was forbidden, and feeding had to be done at a distance. The government organized personnel to capture and kill stray animals that entered the cities.
6. The government distributed masks free of charge, and everyone had to wear one in public places.
7. All schools were closed. Until the epidemic ended, no one was allowed to enter or leave