Mikrobiol. Z. 2021; 83(2):93-99.
doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/microbiolj83.02.093
Contribution of Ukrainian Scientists into the Fight against Plague
V.M. Gamaliia, S.P. Ruda, G.V. Zabuga
Dobrov Institute for Scientific and Technological Potential and Science History Studies, NAS of Ukraine
60 Taras Shevchenko Blvd., Kyiv, 01032, Ukraine
A review about history of the fighting of Ukrainian scientists against one of the most terrible infectious diseases of mankind is proposed. It is noted that plague epidemics have persecuted mankind during many centuries. For a long time, pandemics of the so-called “black death” broke out in different parts of the world. It is shown how a number of measures were organized in Russian Empire against disease spread: the organization of border outposts, the establishment of quarantine hospitals etc. Ways of searching for the sources of the plague by a number of scientists, in particular, graduates of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, doctors I.A. Poletika, D.S. Samoylovich, K.I. Yagelsky, A.F. Shafonsky are described. The formation of the anti-plague system in Russian Empire is investigated. The activity of the anti-plague laboratory, organized on the initiative of D.K. Zabolotny in 1880 in St. Petersburg, is shown. The contribution of the doctors G.M. Minkh, V.K. Vysokovich and M.F. Gamaliia in revealing the features of the pathogenesis of plague is described. It is noted that only at the beginning of the 20th century laboratories headed by D.K. Zabolotny and I.I. Mechnikov received significant results regarding the distribution of this dangerous infection. It is proved that only the dedicated work of a number of scientists allowed not only to reduce, but also to overcome the sickness rate of plague. It is noted that the first objective confirmation of the fact that the causative agent of the plague can be transmitted from rodents to humans was obtained in 1912. Considerable attention was paid to studies of the plague infection by D.K. Zabolotny during his expeditions to countries where epidemics arose. The role of Ukrainian scientists in establishing the determining factors of the occurrence of plague, as well as the development of methods for preventing this infectious disease, is emphasized.
Keywords: plague, vaccination, epidemiology, anti-plague serum, epizootic, endemicity.
Full text (PDF, in English)
- Mechnikov II. [Scientific advances in the study of plague and in the fight against it]. Russkij arhiv patologii. 1897; 4:133–50. Russian.
- Fukidid. [History]. Moscow: Ladomir; 1999. Russian.
- Bokkachcho Dz. [The Decameron]. Moscow: Izdvo hudozhestv. l-ry; 1970. Russian.
- Defoe D. Journal of Plague Year: being observations or memorials of the most remarkable occurrences, as well public as private, which happened in London during the last great visitation in 1665. Written by a Citizen who continued all the while in London. Never made public before. London; New York. 1911.
- [Novgorod First Chronicle. Berlin List]. St.Petersburg: Izd-vo SPb. universiteta. Pisjmennye pamjatniki istorii i kultury drevnej Rossii v sobranijah zarubezhnyh arhivov i bibliotek. 2011. Russian.
- [Chernigov Chronicle/South Russian Chroniles, discovered and published by N. Belozersky]. Kiev. 1856; 1:11–44. Russian.
- Verkhratskyi SA. [History of medicine]. Vyd. 3-je. Kyiv: Vyshcha shkola; 1983. Ukrainian.
- Borodii MK. [To the history of plague control in Ukraine in the XVIII century]. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal. 1984; 5:82–90. Ukrainian.
- Vasiliev KG, Lapushenko OV, Gozhenko AI. [Plague and border quarantines. Historical and epidemiological sketch]. Odessa: ChP Fotosintetika; 2004. Russian.
- Borodii MK. [Danylo Samiilovych Samoilovych]. Kyiv: Naukova dumka; 1987. Ukrainian.
- Samoilovich DS. [Discourse about the plague that devastated the Russian Empire in 1771 and especially in the capital city of Moscow]. Izbr. proizv. Vyp. 2. Moscow: Izd-vo AMN SSSR; 1952. p. 7–248. Russian.
- Zabolotny D. [Plague (Pestis bubonica): Epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention]. Sb. rabot po chume. St.Petersburg: 1907; 1:1–94. Russian.
- Andreievskii ES. [About the plague that befell Odessa in 1837: Historical view of the course of the infection and medical observations over it]. Odessa: Gor. tip. 1838; 4:137. Russian.
- Ruda SP. [Grigorii Nikolaievich Minkh. 1836–1896]. Kyiv: GP Informatsionno-analiticheskoie agentstvo; 2011. Russian.
- Minkh GN. [Plague in Russia. Part 1. (Posthumous edition)]. Kiev. 1898. Russian.
- Ruda SP. [Vladimir Konstantinovich Vysokovich, 1854–1912]. Moscow: Nauka (Nauchno-biograficheskaia literatura); 2004. Russian.
- Ruda SP. [V.K. Vysokovych – scientist, teacher, man. Life, dedicated to people. To the 160th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Konstantinovich Vysokovich]. Kyiv: Nacionalna naukova medychna biblioteka Ukrainy (Tovarystvo kyivskykh likariv v osobakh); 2014. p. 9–11. Ukrainian.
- Vysokovich VK. [Plague (Pestis orientalis)]. Kiev: Tipografiia MM Fiha; 1901. Russian.
- Ruda SP. [Essays on the history of microbiology in Ukraine (late XIX – early XX century)]. Kyiv: IVC Derzhkomstatu Ukrajiny; 2000. Ukrainian.
- Gamaliia VM. [To the 150th anniversary of the birth of M.F. Gamaliia (1859–1949)]. Nauka ta naukoznavstvo. 2009; 2:66–75. Ukrainian.
- Belilovskii VA, Gamaleia NF. [Plague in Odessa]. Odessa; 1903. Russian.
- Vysokovich VK. [Plague in Odessa in 1910. Epidemiology, pathology, clinic, bacteriology and measures]. Pod. red. SN Malinovskogo, DK Zabolotnogo, PN Bulatova. St.Petersburg; 1912. Russian.
- Blohina NN. [On the history of the anti-plague service in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century]. Epidemiologiia i infekcionnye bolezni. 2012; 1:56–61. Russian.
- Bilai VI. [Danil Kirillovich Zabolotny]. Kyiv: Naukova dumka; 1987. Russian.
- Ruda SP. [Works of epidemiologists of Ukraine XVIII – XIX centuries in light of the threat of bacteriological warfare]. Narysy z istoriji pryrodoznavstva i tekhniky. 2005; 45:74–80. Ukrainian.