Growth of the Anti-Plague System during the Soviet Period

Abstract

The Anti-plague system experienced a dramatic expansion in Soviet times. From the dozen facilities created in the Russian Empire, it grew during the Soviet period to include over 100 facilities engaged in public health activities as well as BW-related work. This article describes how this highly responsive public health system, created to respond to natural outbreaks of dangerous diseases, became a critical adjunct to the Soviet BW program.

Keywords :

• Soviet Biological Weapons Program
• Biological Warfare
• Biological Weapons
• Problem 5
• Ferment
• Anti-Plague System
• Plague
• Disease Surveillance
• Anthrax
• Tularemia
• CCHF
• Saratov Anti-Plague Institute
• Rostov Anti-Plague Institute
• Volgograd Anti-Plague Institute

Notes

¹Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924) was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party that seized power during the Russian revolution of 1917. He became the leader of the USSR after its foundation in 1922.

²Note that another MOH directorate—the 3rd Directorate—ensured epidemiological surveillance on the territory of nuclear test-sites. The 3rd Directorate had its own network of AP stations that was distinct from the AP System described in this report, and which served only the territories of Soviet nuclear test-sites. This directorate also dealt with radiation defense and aerospace issues for the MOH.

³See note 3.