Infectious disease as the dominant cause of death at the beginning of the 20th century based on analysing data from the register of deaths of the parish Church in Dračić (1907-1913)

N the absence of other accessible historical sources that would indicate the causes of death in Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century, prior to World War I, church Registers of Death contain valuable information. To determine the predominant causes of death, a detailed analysis was conducted of the Book of the Church of Dračić, the Temple of the Holy Apostles for the registration of the deceased, for 1907-1925, in particular for the period 1907-1913. It was observed that the natural increase in that region, between the censuses of 1900 and 1910, was lower than the natural increase in the immediate surroundings and in Serbia as a whole. The reason was frequent local outbreaks of then deadly diseases, primarily dysentery, scarlet fever and whooping cough, but also diphtheria, different forms of typhoid and measles/pox. Of the 516 deaths from all causes, which represented 18.04% of the population registered in 1910, they claimed a third of the lives. The largest number of deaths, 146 people, was registered in 1909, of which 96 died due to epidemic diseases. Outbreaks did not occur in all villages of the small parish, but primarily in the remote villages in the hills and mountains. After the outbreaks, the largest number of parish residents perished from chronic and acute lung diseases (pneumonia, tuberculosis and "catarrh", acute or chronic respiratory mucosa inflammation accompanied by copious mucus production), a total of 81 people, which is more than the 71 victims of 24 other varying diseases. A total of 159 people, primarily the elderly and children, died from various "natural" causes, eight during childbirth and nine from accidental deaths and suicides. It is indicative that 21 people died on the fronts of the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912 - 1913), not only from war operations, but also from diseases that emerged there, and that in 1909, scarlet fever claimed the same number of lives in the village of Bačevci alone.