How in different centuries they fought epidemics in Russia, and which method was recognized as the most effective

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

From time immemorial, epidemics hitting humanity have claimed thousands, and in some cases millions of lives. The first information about the general spread of fatal diseases in Russia dates back to the 11th century. Infections entered our state, as a rule, together with overseas merchants and foreign goods. The low sanitary condition of residential areas was also a big problem. The level of development of medicine did not allow to resist aggressive ailments, so people were isolated and waited. When epidemics engulfed entire villages, residents had to leave their homes and flee. They learned to resist large-scale infections only by the 19th century, but epidemics today behave insidiously, not sparing the population.

Isolation method and vinegar antiseptic

For a long time, the fight against one or another epidemic was reduced to prayers, processions of the cross, cordoning off foci of infection, burning the bodies and things of the infected. The ineffective attempts of healers to save patients only led to the acceleration of the spread of disease. Therefore, in the 13-14 centuries, doctors and priests were prohibited from visiting the infected and burying the dead. As far as possible, the graves were taken out of the settlements. Food was delivered to the seaside villages without personal contact: the buyer left money in the niche of the house pillar, and the merchants put the goods there. In the 17th century, a general quarantine appeared, and the boundaries of cities were already closed by an official decree. Of course, isolation did not have the best effect on the standard of living, the ban on agricultural work threatened a hungry winter, and with it new epidemics of scurvy and typhus.

Doctors urged to burn fires at the quarantine borders, assuring that the smoke keeps the infection in the infected area. A little later, a more advanced measure of countering epidemics appeared - disinfection of water, air, disinfection of streets and premises. Letters from infected settlements were rewritten at intermediate stations, and banknotes were treated with vinegar, which has long been considered the first antiseptic. It was found that one should not share tableware with the patient, and his personal belongings were also avoided. Anti-plague suits and primitive respirators, which replaced medical masks with a beak, provided some safety for doctors.

Witch hunt and quarantine reward

A truly terrible test came to Russia during the world plague of the 14th century. At that time, an unpopular measure was used in Venice to combat the pandemic - a quarantine stop for ships that arrived from the infected regions. "Quarantine" is translated as "40 days", which corresponds to the incubation period for the plague. In this way, the sick were identified and isolated. The first plague victim in Russia was Pskov, whose panicked residents asked the Novgorod archbishop to serve a salvation prayer for them. The arriving priest, having contracted the plague, died on the way back. And the crowd, who came to say goodbye to the spiritual mentor, spread the infection already in Novgorod.

Mor was mowing down the people with incredible speed. In the Moscow suburbs alone, up to 150 people died per day. Not knowing what to do, the townspeople blamed the witches for everything. Several auto-da-fe took place, but the situation did not improve. Then came the turn of cold analysis. People have worked out the basic quarantine principles by bitter experience. All belongings of deceased patients were immediately burned. At hints of an impending epidemic, many left for remote or sparsely populated places, avoided visiting port cities, did not visit shopping areas, church prayers, did not participate in funerals, and did not take food and belongings from strangers.

After the survivors developed strong immunity, the plague receded. But she returned with a severe epidemic in 1654. The Kremlin was closed, the royal family, wealthy residents, archers and guards left Moscow. Quarantined sick people were often left without help or care. City borders were blocked by outposts. During the third plague outbreak a century later, the government introduced more effective measures. By order of Count Orlov, hospitals and baths were built, dwellings were disinfected, and the salaries of doctors were increased. Volunteers who presented quarantine hospitalizations were paid a reward.

The vaccination company of Catherine II and the salvation of Moscow in 1959

During the reign of Catherine the Great, one more misfortune fell out - an epidemic of smallpox, from which Emperor Peter II died. On the initiative of the empress, vaccination began in the Russian Empire. Due to the fact that at first there were few who wanted to be vaccinated, the fight against smallpox was carried out for many years. Smallpox was completely eliminated already in the USSR in the 1930s. And when in 1959 the Moscow artist Kokorekin brought her from India, a whole special operation was organized in the city by the forces of the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army. In a matter of hours, all contacts of the patient were established, thousands of potentially infected people were placed in isolation. The capital was shut down on quarantine, transport links stopped. Thanks to prompt measures and a massive unscheduled vaccination, smallpox did not break out of Moscow.

Disease of unwashed hands and insulation reliability

Cholera was another epidemic that repeatedly came to Russia. To stop the "disease of unwashed hands" in the 19th century, the first thing the authorities did was to restrict any movement of people. The infected self-isolated in their homes, the work of educational institutions was stopped, all public events were prohibited. With the aim of promptly informing the population, the release of a special supplement to "Moskovskie vedomosti" has begun. A commission was formed to combat the epidemic, quarantine barracks, food points for the infected, additional baths, and shelters for orphans who had lost their parents were opened in an enhanced mode.

Wealthy townspeople donated money for quarantine measures, donated things and medicines to those in need. During the next cholera epidemic in 1892-1895, a well-established system of counteraction was already in place. Boiled water was procured at railway stations, money turnover in buffets was carried out through a saucer, and large-scale production of disinfectants was established. But the main measure until the 20th century was traditionally quarantines.

Epidemics, one way or another, have always been a companion of mankind, from the earliest times. People managed to survive and continue the race. Today science can already answer the question, what pandemics the ancients faced and how they explained their occurrence.