Epidemics of recent years: what disease will destroy humanity. An epidemic is what? Causes of epidemics

Deserted snow-covered streets, frozen cars and closed shops. There is no food and medicine, rescue services and police do not work, the city is divided among gangs. This is how New York appears before us in an online game. Tom Clancy's The Division. Nothing extraordinary happened to the city - “just” an outbreak of smallpox, which wiped out most of the population of the whole city. In the history of mankind, this has happened many times - and today we will talk about the most terrible epidemics that claimed tens and hundreds of millions of lives.

Spanish guest. Influenza epidemic in 1918-1919

Probably, each of us is familiar with the flu - this disease comes "to visit" every winter, migrating from the southern hemisphere to the northern one. And every visit ends with an epidemic: the flu virus mutates so quickly that a year later, the human immune system has to re-learn how to cope with the disease.

An "ordinary" influenza epidemic kills several hundred thousand people, and its victims are usually already weakened people - children and the elderly, pregnant women, and those who are already suffering from serious illnesses. But in 1918, humanity was faced with the flu, which killed young and perfectly healthy people - and killed by the millions, mowing down entire small towns.

Despite the name, the "Spanish flu" probably originated at the very beginning of 1918 in China, from where it entered the United States. On March 11, at the base at Fort Riley, the virus infected more than 500 soldiers preparing to take part in the First World War. Everything quickly became easier for them and the unit went on ships to Europe.

So the "Spaniard" got into an almost perfect place. Millions of soldiers were in the trenches, where basic hygiene rules were not observed and medical care was not available. There were also not enough doctors and medicines in the rear - all the best went to the front. Convoys rushed along the sea, railways and roads, which, along with military cargo, delivered the carrier of the disease.

By the end of April, the flu swept through France, from where it spread throughout Europe in a little over two months. Because of the war, governments forbade newspapers to whip up a panic, so the epidemic was only spoken out loud when the disease reached neutral Spain - hence the name. By the end of the summer, the virus reached North Africa and India, and then subsided.

At the end of August, the "Spanish flu" moved back - it struck part of Africa, returned to Europe, crossed over to the United States by ship, and by winter covered almost the entire world, except for Madagascar, Australia and New Caledonia. And this time the virus began to kill. The rate of development of the disease frightened even doctors who had seen a lot: in a matter of hours, the temperature rose to forty degrees, pain in the head and muscles began, and then the disease reached the lungs, causing severe pneumonia. Already on the second or third day, some died from cardiac arrest, which could not support an upset organism. Others held out for up to two weeks, dying already due to pneumonia.

Eyewitnesses of the "Spaniard" describe a picture that the scripts of many disaster films can envy. In India, small towns turned into ghosts, where the entire population died. In Great Britain, at the height of the war, many factories stood up, and in Denmark and Sweden, the telegraph and telephone stopped working for a while - simply because there was no one to work. The railways were malfunctioning - the drivers of some trains died on the way.

Attempts to create a vaccine were unsuccessful, and there were no funds to support the patient, weakening the symptoms of the infection and allowing the body to cope with the virus on its own. The society tried to defend itself with organizational measures: all mass events were canceled, shops began to trade “through the window”, into which the client put money and received goods, and in small American towns a random passerby could be shot if it seemed to a patrol of conscious citizens that he looked like on the patient.

The Spanish flu epidemic lasted until the end of 1919, and its third wave did not touch only the Brazilian island of Marajo at the mouth of the Amazon River. The virus infected more than a quarter of the world's population, and according to various estimates, the death rate ranged from 50 to 100 million - that is, 2.5-5% of the entire population of the planet at that time.

Defeated monster. Smallpox

Smallpox, which caused the events of The Division, is now absent from nature - this is the first disease completely defeated by man. For the first time, smallpox epidemics were described in detail in the Middle East - in the 4th century, the disease swept through China, then appeared in Korea, and in 737 the epidemic shook Japan, where, according to some sources, up to a third of the population died. Then the virus began to penetrate into Europe.

Smallpox disfigures its carrier in a matter of days, covering the body with many ulcers. In this case, you can become infected not only by airborne droplets, but also through clothes, bedding, dishes, on which the pathogen got from ulcers. In medieval Europe, smallpox at some point became an almost constant companion of man. Some doctors argued that everyone should get sick with it, and the police indicated the absence of traces of smallpox as a special sign when searching for a suspect. Every eighth infected person died of smallpox, and among children the mortality rate reached 30%. In the “quiet” years, the disease claimed from 800 thousand to one and a half million lives, while not sparing those who recovered - in addition to the scars from ulcers that remained for life, the infection often led to blindness.

Even worse was the smallpox epidemic in America, where the virus came with the colonialists. If the immunity of Europeans was at least somehow familiar with the disease, then for the Indians the new virus turned out to be a deadly surprise - in some tribes, up to 80-90% of those infected died from smallpox. In fact, the Europeans used a kind of biological weapon - smallpox, as well as other diseases like malaria, typhoid and measles, went ahead of the conquerors, destroying entire villages and weakening the Indians. In the developed Inca empire, smallpox killed at least 200,000 of its six million population, weakening the empire so much that the Spaniards were able to conquer it with a small force.

The first attempts to treat smallpox were made in India and China as early as the 8th-10th centuries - doctors looked for a patient who had smallpox in a weak form, and then infected healthy people with a “weakened” virus. In Europe, this method was tested at the beginning of the 18th century, but the results were controversial - there was a small percentage of people whom the vaccine, on the contrary, infected and even killed. They became carriers of the disease, so that in some cases the treatment itself led to outbreaks of the epidemic.

The real vaccine was discovered at the end of the same century, when the English physician Edward Jenner began to vaccinate patients with the cowpox vaccine. This virus was harmless to humans, but caused immunity from "real" smallpox. The medicine turned out to be relatively cheap to manufacture and use, becoming popular in Europe. But the virus was not going to give up without a fight. The vaccine often turned out to be of poor quality, plus they did not immediately learn how to re-vaccinate after several decades. The last serious blow of smallpox was in 1871-1873, when mortality in Europe rose to the same level as a century earlier.

By the second half of the 20th century, smallpox had been forced out of developed countries. They continued to get sick only in Asia, Africa and South America, from where the virus regularly tried to break back. For the ultimate victory in 1967, the World Health Organization launched an unprecedented $1.2 billion (in 2010 dollars) program to vaccinate at least 80% of the population in troubled countries, the level considered sufficient to stop the spread of the virus.

The program dragged on for almost ten years, but ended in success - the last smallpox patient was registered in 1977 in Somalia. To date, smallpox does not exist in nature - samples of the virus are stored in only two laboratories in the United States and Russia.

Black killer. Plague epidemic of 1346-1353

Since 1312, the Little Ice Age began on Earth - the temperature dropped sharply, and rains and frosts destroyed crop after crop, causing a terrible famine in Europe. Well, in 1346 another misfortune came - a terrible disease. The skin of those who caught the infection began to become covered with "buboes" - inflamed and swollen lymph nodes to a huge size. The patients fought in a terrible fever, and many coughed up blood - this meant that the disease had reached the lungs. The chances of recovery were minimal - according to modern estimates, the mortality rate was more than 90%.

Later, historians will call this disease the "Black Death" - probably because of the number of deaths (the word "black" was replaced by "many people" in translation). In fact, we are talking about the plague known to many.

The Black Death is not the only major epidemic in human history. In the 6th century, the "Justinian Plague" occurred, from which Byzantium suffered the most, and in the 19th century, the epidemic struck China and India. Less significant outbreaks in the same Europe were recorded almost every century

The natural carrier of the plague bacillus are rodents. According to the most popular theory, the plague began around 1320 near the current border of China and Mongolia - a bad climate and famine drove the rodents out of their traditional habitats, forcing them to look for food near human dwellings. Fleas that lived on rodents began to bite people more and more often - and so the bacterium began to infect people. On the bodies, in the folds of clothes and in the cargo of merchants, small peddlers began to travel from settlement to settlement, spreading the disease further and further.

In 1331, the plague reached the Chinese province of Henan, where it killed 90% of the population. The disease continued to spread throughout China and India, and in 1346 merchant ships brought the plague to the Crimea. One of the sources says that during the siege of the Genoese fortress on the site of the present Feodosia, the Horde Khan Dzhanibek used something like a biological weapon, throwing infected corpses into the territory of the settlement with the help of catapults. However, many researchers consider this story unrealistic.

Ships for a long time became the main carrier of the disease - merchant ships, on which dozens of people survived, stopped at the first ports that came across. So, in the spring of 1347, the plague reached Constantinople, where it killed up to 90% of the inhabitants. From there, the disease went to Alexandria and further to Africa, as well as to the territory of modern Italy, reaching Venice by January - here the authorities first tried to fight back the plague by banning mass events, organizing quarantine zones for the infected and burying corpses. But even such measures did not help save the population - up to 60% of the inhabitants died in Venice.

In 1348, the plague spread to France and England. It is curious that the disease did not touch Scotland for a long time - but having heard about the suffering of their longtime opponents, the Scots could not resist and raided the British. The army was defeated, and the returning soldiers brought the disease to their homes. By 1353, the plague had passed through almost a large part of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and then receded. But before the end of the century there were several more weak outbreaks of the epidemic.

Physicians of the XIV century were helpless before the plague. Doctors recommended wearing a “necklace” of feces around the neck (repels disease), scattered dead dogs through the streets (again, the smell should scare away the disease), drove herds of horses to cities (their breath should cleanse the atmosphere). They tried to extract the infection from the sick with the help of magnets, and sometimes the buboes on the body were opened and burned with a red-hot poker, which often ended in death from pain shock. The only effective method against the cure was to flee away from the infected areas - and being educated people, many doctors were among the first to leave their posts.

In their place came the so-called plague doctors. Usually these were mediocre doctors, recent students, and also just charlatans who were lured by the authorities with a higher salary (by the way, their effectiveness remained the same as that of ordinary doctors - almost none). Not wanting to die, the plague doctors put on protective suits that covered the body as much as possible - by the way, this really helped a little from the fleas that carried the infection. At some point (most likely, after the end of the Black Death), a single standard of clothing appeared, which almost everyone must have seen in films and games - a long cloak, a wide-brimmed hat and a mask in the form of a bird's beak, where fragrant herbs were placed, " frightened off the disease.

Plague doctors were not the only unusual characters born of the epidemic. Sects of religious fanatics appeared - flagellants and biancos. The former believed that the only way to defeat the plague was through self-torture; according to the latter, it was enough to wear white clothes, pray and fast. Representatives of both sects traveled from city to city, organizing mass processions, which only helped to spread the infection. As a result, the flagellants were seriously restricted in their rights, and the biancos were banned, for a guarantee, several leaders were burned at the stake. The most unusual phenomenon was choreomania, when people gathered in large crowds and began to writhe in a wild dance, stopping only after complete exhaustion. There is no scientific explanation for choreomania, but most likely it is a mass psychosis caused by fear of the disease.

The most cautious researchers believe that the "Black Plague" claimed at least 60 million lives - that is, a quarter (!) Of the entire population of the Earth. Europe lost about a third of its population (up to 25 million dead), and in countries like Norway and Iceland, only 30% of people survived. The social and economic consequences of the epidemic were felt for several hundred more years. The Black Death even changed the genetic composition of mankind - the first blood type became more common, the owners of which were less sick with the plague.

The discovery of antibiotics and modern methods of vaccination, it would seem, reliably protected humanity from epidemics such as those described above. But it's too early to relax. Mortality from Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the virus of which was discovered quite recently - in 1976 - reaches 80-90%, and not a single cure for it has yet passed clinical trials. Fortunately, the Ebola virus is reluctant to spread from person to person - so small epidemics broke out only in Africa with backward medicine and poor hygiene. There is no guarantee that next time we will be as lucky, and that the next aggressive version of the flu will not do to the real New York what we see in The Division.

To make it clearer, from the Greek word "epidemic" is translated as "general disease among the people." An epidemic cannot be considered an outbreak of a disease that has spread throughout the country, and not in individual regions. Fortunately, advances in medicine have reduced the risk of epidemics and pandemics to a minimum. Among the current epidemics, the influenza and SARS epidemics are most common, you can rarely hear about the plague epidemic, as doctors are actively implementing measures to protect against diseases among the population.

The worst epidemics in history

Epidemics in the history of mankind have been encountered since ancient times. Diseases mowed down entire cities, on the streets lay the corpses of people who died from diseases. Medicine had such a low level of development that it could not withstand outbreaks of plague, malaria or cholera, and create the required level of security. Let's get acquainted with the most terrible epidemics that are written in black pages in the history of mankind.

In 541-542 BC. bubonic plague broke out in the Byzantine Empire. In terms of its consequences, it was later compared with the wave of the Black Death in Europe, when every third European died from the disease. At the same time, Byzantium became part of a general pandemic that swept the whole world - North Africa and America, Asia and Europe were affected. For 200 years, the disease has raged in these areas of the globe. Calculate at least the approximate number of dead historians can not yet.

The segment in world history from 1665 to 1666 will be remembered by the British as the Great Plague of London. About 100 thousand people died - this is one fifth of the population of the entire city. The bubonic plague, as it was later established, broke out due to unsanitary conditions. In terms of its consequences, the epidemic can be compared with the Black Death, which broke out from 1347 to 1353 - then more than 25 million people died.

The Black Death, also called the Great or Bubonic Plague, is the worst plague in world history. The pandemic began in the mid-1320s in Asia and spread throughout the world within a few years, largely facilitated by merchants and soldiers. In Europe, the Black Death began its procession, hitting the Crimea in 1340. Only among Europeans, about 30 million people died from the Black Death. With each generation, the plague returned until the early eighteenth century.

Another tragic story, this time in the Russian chronicle, happened at the end of 1770 in Moscow, when the plague broke out. It all started with a few cases of illness, and ended tragically. The Russian authorities failed to cope with a dangerous disease - instead of competent measures, the houses of those families where the patient was located were burned, public baths were closed to avoid the spread of lice.

On September 17, 1771, the Plague Riot broke out - only after it did the authorities undertake to ensure the fight against the plague.

Plague - hello from the Middle Ages

Epidemics of the Middle Ages are associated with mass plague diseases. The danger was that the plague chronicle of the epidemic of which is described above did not respond to medical treatment - the practical level of doctors was at a low level. In 1998, it was established that the plague bacillus was the cause of the Black Death, according to data for 2013, 2014, there were no dangerous outbreaks of the disease. Among the causes of the terrible epidemic, which claimed the lives of a total of 60 million people, are:

• environmental factor - a sharp change from cold to warm climate,
• raging civil wars and other military conflicts,
• poverty and vagrancy of the population,
• low level or complete lack of personal hygiene, violation of sanitary safety measures,
• terrible sanitary condition of cities,
• a huge number of rats that spread the disease.

Characteristics of the plague epidemic

At a minimum, the main danger of any epidemic is the rapid spread of the disease and a large number of deaths. The plague proceeds exclusively in a severe form; lice, rats, fleas and even cats can be its distributors. The most common plague is bubonic and pneumonic. Now the development of medicine makes it possible to prevent death from the plague in 95% of cases, whereas in the past almost every case ended in death. Not so long ago, by historical standards, the plague raged in the Far East - 100 thousand people became victims of the epidemic.

According to 2015 data, the number of plague cases annually is about 2.5 thousand people. Unfortunately, there is no trend towards disappearance or decrease in the level of the disease. The plague has not appeared in Russia since 1979. Modern plague outbreaks were registered in 2013 and 2014 in Madagascar - 79 people died.

Influenza - help and symptoms

Until now, the influenza epidemic takes the lives of 250 to 500 thousand people every year, according to data for 2013-2014. Mostly, the influenza virus is fatal to the elderly, over 65 years of age. In many countries, including Russia, preventive measures are being taken to prevent an influenza epidemic. At the same time, the virus is relatively young - it was isolated in a separate group in the 30s of the twentieth century, before that the Spanish flu raged in Europe.

In history, the Spanish flu is considered the worst epidemic. It happened in 1918-1919, a wave of diseases swept around the world, as a result, 550 million people were infected, of which 100 million people died. The flu epidemic owes its origin to the First World War, and at the same time managed to bypass the war in terms of the number of victims. The Spaniard was characterized for the patient by a blue complexion, a bloody cough.

Only in the first weeks of distribution, the Spaniard killed 25 million people.

The emergence of the measles epidemic

A measles epidemic is an outbreak of a disease that is the leading cause of death in infants. Measles is also difficult for adults to tolerate. Only in 2011, 158 thousand people became victims of this insidious disease. Most of them are children under the age of 5. Measles is dangerous because it is spread by airborne droplets, while the sick person himself also becomes contagious, and the people around him cannot think about safety.

Measles in adults can appear if a person in childhood was not vaccinated or did not have it. Then the body develops immunity against measles. Adults with measles feel hard - the disease is accompanied by pneumonia and other complications. It is especially dangerous to catch measles for people with immunodeficiency - death for such patients is almost inevitable. Measles epidemics broke out around the world in 2013 and 2014.

An epidemic is a mass spread in space and time of an infectious disease, the level of which is several times higher than the statistical indicator registered in the affected area. Many people become victims of the disease, on a large scale, the effect of the infection has no boundaries and covers both small areas and entire countries. Each outbreak of the disease can be fundamentally different from the previous ones and is accompanied by symptoms depending on a number of factors. These are climate, weather conditions, atmospheric pressure, geographical location, social and hygienic conditions. The epidemic of the virus is characterized by a continuous process of transmission of the infectious agent from one person to another, which entails a continuous chain of successively developing infectious conditions.

Diseases that turn into epidemics

The most dangerous diseases that take the form of an epidemic are:

• Plague.
• Cholera.
• Flu.
• Anthrax.
• Ebola.

Black death - plague

Plague (otherwise "black death") is a terrible disease that destroyed entire cities, wiped out villages and villages from the face of the Earth. The first mention of the disease was recorded in the 6th century: it enveloped the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire in a gloomy cloud, killing hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and their ruler Justinian. Coming from Egypt and spreading in western and eastern directions - along the coast of Africa towards Alexandria and through Syria and Palestine into the possessions of Western Asia - the plague from 532 to 580 struck many countries. The "black death" made its way along trade routes, along the coasts, unceremoniously sneaked deep into the continents.

It reached its peak by penetrating into Greece and Turkey in 541-542, and then into the territory of present-day Italy, France and Germany. At that time, the population of the Eastern Roman Empire was reduced by half. Every breath, a slight fever, the slightest indisposition was a danger and did not guarantee the awakening of a person in the morning.

The plague epidemic repeated its second terrible campaign in the XIV century, hitting all European states. Five centuries of the reign of the disease claimed the lives of approximately 40 million people. The reasons for the unimpeded spread of infection were the lack of basic hygiene skills, dirt and total poverty. Before the disease, both doctors and the drugs prescribed by them were powerless. There was a catastrophic lack of territories for the burial of dead bodies, so huge pits were dug, which were filled with hundreds of corpses. How many strong men, attractive women, lovely kids were mowed down by ruthless death, breaking off the chains of hundreds of generations.

After unsuccessful attempts, doctors realized that it was necessary to use the isolation of sick people from healthy ones. Then quarantine was invented, which became the first barrier to the fight against infection.

Special houses were built in which the sick were kept for 40 days under a strict ban on going outside. The arrival was also ordered to stay on the roads for 40 days without leaving the port.

The third wave of the epidemic of the disease swept through China at the end of the 19th century, taking with it approximately 174 thousand people in 6 months. In 1896, India was struck, losing more than 12 million people during that terrible period. This was followed by South Africa, South and North America. The carriers of the Chinese plague, which was of a bubonic nature, were ship and port rats. At the insistence of quarantine doctors, to prevent the mass migration of rodents to the shore, they were supplied with metal discs.

A terrible disease has not bypassed Russia. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the cities of Glukhov and Belozersk completely died out, in Smolensk 5 residents managed to escape. Two terrible years in the Pskov and Novgorod provinces claimed the lives of 250 thousand people.

The incidence of plague, although it sharply declined in the 30s of the last century, periodically reminds of itself. From 1989 to 2003, 38 thousand cases of plague were recorded in the countries of America, Asia, and Africa. In 8 countries (China, Mongolia, Viet Nam, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Madagascar, Peru, USA), the epidemic is annual outbreaks that recur with persistent frequency.

Plague symptoms

Symptoms:

• General serious condition.
• The development of the inflammatory process in the lungs, lymph nodes and other organs.
• High temperature - up to 39-40 C 0.
• Strong headache.
• Frequent nausea and vomiting.
• Dizziness.
• Insomnia.
• hallucinations.

Plague forms

In addition to the above signs, with the skin-bubonic form of the disease, a red spot appears at the site of penetration of the virus, turning into a bubble filled with purulent-bloody contents.

The pustule (vesicle) soon bursts, forming an ulcer. An inflammatory process develops with the formation of buboes in the lymph nodes located close to the place of penetration of the plague microbes.

The pulmonary form of the disease is characterized by inflammation of the lungs (plague pneumonia), accompanied by a feeling of lack of air, cough, sputum with blood.

The intestinal stage is accompanied by profuse diarrhea, often with an admixture of mucus and blood in the feces.

The septic type of plague is accompanied by significant hemorrhages in the skin and mucous membranes. The course is severe and often fatal, manifested by general intoxication of the body and lesions of internal organs on days 2-3 (with a pulmonary form) and 5-6 days (with a bubonic form). In the absence of treatment, the lethal outcome is 99.9%.

Treatment

Treatment is carried out exclusively in special hospitals. If this disease is suspected, isolation of the patient, disinfection, disinfestation and deratization of the premises and all things with which the patient had contact is essential. The settlement where the disease was detected is quarantined, active vaccination and emergency chemoprophylaxis are carried out.

Influenza - "Italian fever"

The diagnosis of influenza has long been familiar to the population. High fever, sore throat, runny nose - all this is not considered abnormally terrible and is treated with medicines and bed rest. It was completely different a hundred years ago, when about 40 million lives died from this disease.

Influenza is first mentioned in the days of the great ancient physician Hippocrates. Fever in patients, headaches and muscle pain, as well as high contagiousness knocked down hundreds of people in a short period, developing into epidemics, the largest of which covered entire countries and continents.

In the Middle Ages, outbreaks of influenza infection were not uncommon and were called "Italian fever", as patients mistakenly believed that sunny Italy was the source of infection. Treatment, consisting of abundant drinking, infusions of medicinal herbs and bee honey, helped little, and the doctors could not think of anything else to save the sick. And among the people, the flu epidemic was considered God's punishment for committed sins, and people fervently prayed to the Almighty in the hope that the disease would bypass their homes.

Until the 16th century, an epidemic was an infection without a name, since doctors could not figure out the cause of its occurrence. According to one hypothesis, it arose as a result of lining up in a special sequence of heavenly bodies. This gave it its original name - "influenza", which means "impact, influence" in Italian. The second hypothesis is less poetic. The regularity of the occurrence of a contagious disease was revealed with the onset of the winter months, determining the relationship of the disease with the resulting hypothermia.

The modern name "flu" arose three centuries later, and translated from French and German means "to seize", determining the suddenness of its appearance: a person is caught in the arms of a contagious infection in almost a few hours.

The version has the right to exist that the breaks between epidemics are carried out in the organisms of birds and animals. Doctors all over the planet are in a state of tension and constant readiness for the next wave of the influenza epidemic, which each time visits humanity in a modified state.

Virus of the present - Ebola

Currently, humanity is faced with a new disease - Ebola, against which no means of control have yet been invented, since the new epidemic is a completely unfamiliar type of disease. Starting in February 2014 in Guinea, the infection has spread to Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali, the United States and Spain.

The epidemic, the causes of which are unsanitary conditions, poor hygiene, as well as religious beliefs, boldly overcomes kilometers of territories. In the hands of the rapid spread of a contagious infection - the traditions of the local population, in which they kiss the dead at parting, wash the dead body, bury it near the water, which leads to a continuous chain of infection of other people.

Preventive measures to prevent epidemics

Any outbreak of an epidemic of disease does not just happen and is the result of the relationship between man and nature.

Therefore, in order to avoid the lightning spread of new infections around the world, the following preventive measures are required:

• cleaning of the territory, sewerage, water supply;
• improving the health culture of the population;
• compliance;
• proper handling and storage of products;
• restriction of social activity of bacillus carriers.

Despite the development of health care in the USSR, our country was periodically covered by epidemic outbreaks. The authorities tried to keep silent about cases of mass diseases, so we still do not have accurate statistics on the victims of epidemics.

Flu

For the first time, Soviet Russia faced an influenza epidemic in 1918-1919, when the Spanish flu raged on the planet. It is considered the most massive flu pandemic in human history. By May 1918 alone, about 8 million people (39% of the population) had been infected with this virus in Spain.

According to some data for the period 1918-1919, more than 400 million people were infected with the influenza virus all over the planet, about 100 million became victims of the epidemic. In Soviet Russia, 3 million people (3.4% of the population) died from the "Spanish flu". Among the most famous victims are revolutionary Yakov Sverdlov and military engineer Pyotr Kapitsa.

In 1957 and 1959, the Soviet Union was overwhelmed by two waves of the Asian flu pandemic, the rise in the incidence occurred in May 1957, and by the end of the year, at least 21 million people were sick with influenza in our country.

The next time the influenza virus hit the Soviet Union was in 1977-78. The pandemic began in our country, for which it received the name "Russian flu". The worst thing is that this virus mowed down mainly young people under the age of 20 years. In the USSR, the statistics of morbidity and mortality from this pandemic was hidden; at least 300 thousand people became victims of the “Russian flu” in the world.

Meningitis

In our country, meningitis is rightly considered a disease of overcrowding and poor living conditions. The disease, the lethality of which is considered one of the highest in the world, always came unexpectedly and also suddenly disappeared.

Meningitis is still a mystery to epidemiologists. It is known that the pathogen constantly lives "among us". Every year, from 1 to 10% of Russians are its carriers, but most often it does not manifest itself in any way, under the influence of the body's immune forces, it dies.

For the first time, an epidemic of meningitis was recorded in the USSR in the 1930s and 40s. “The incidence of meningitis in those years was enormous,” notes microbiologist Tatyana Chernyshova. “If today doctors are seriously concerned about the number of cases equal to 2.9 people per 100,000 of the population, then this figure was higher – 50 per 100,000.”

The epidemic was associated with large migration flows of the country's population, which rushed to socialist construction sites, later the disease actively spread in the barracks of the Great Patriotic War and in the barracks of post-war construction sites. However, after the war, there was especially no one to get sick, and the epidemic began to wane.

However, in the 60s, meningitis returned, many doctors who first encountered the disease did not even know its symptoms. Epidemiologists managed to determine the cause of the outbreak only in 1997, when scientists were already seriously engaged in all varieties of meningococci. It turned out that the cause of the disease was a virus that first appeared in China in the mid-1960s and was accidentally brought to the USSR.

Plague

In the Soviet Union, the plague was considered a relic of the past, although a narrow circle of specialists knew all the plague epidemics in the USSR. The natural focus of the plague was often the regions of Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Transcaucasia.

The first epidemic of plague in the USSR is considered an outbreak of its pulmonary form in Primorsky Krai in 1921, which came from China. And then she appeared with frightening regularity:

1939 - Moscow; 1945 - south of the Volga-Ural region, Central Asia; 1946 - Caspian zone, Turkmenistan; 1947–1948 - Astrakhan region, Kazakhstan; 1949 - Turkmenistan; 1970 - Elbrus region; 1972 - Kalmykia; 1975 - Dagestan; 1980 - Caspian zone; 1981 - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan. And this is not a complete list of plague epidemics in the USSR.

Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did the statistics come to light. From 1920 to 1989, 3639 people fell ill with the plague, 2060 became victims. But if before the war each plague outbreak claimed hundreds of lives, then from the mid-40s, when sulfidine and blueing began to be used, the number of victims was reduced to several tens. Since the late 50s, streptomycin has been used, which has reduced the number of deaths to a few.

If not for the selfless work of epidemiologists, the victims could have been much more. The activities of doctors were strictly classified. Employees of the anti-plague service did not have the right to tell even their relatives about their work, otherwise they were fired under the article. Specialists often found out about the purpose of the business trip only at the airport.

Over time, a powerful network of anti-plague institutions was created in the country, which is successfully functioning to this day. Epidemiologists conducted annual observations of natural plague foci, special laboratories studied strains isolated from ship rats that sailed on ships from potentially plague countries.

Cholera

The civil war, social upheavals, devastation and famine contributed to the spread of cholera pathogens in the young Soviet state. Nevertheless, Russian doctors managed to put out the most serious foci of this disease. Very soon, the country's leadership reported that cholera in the USSR was over.

But in the mid-1960s, the disease returned again. This was the seventh cholera pandemic for the planet. Starting in 1961 in Indonesia, the contagion quickly spread throughout the world. In the USSR, the first case of cholera "el-tor", which penetrated with drug dealers from the territory of Afghanistan, was recorded in 1965 in the Uzbek SSR. The authorities sent 9,000 soldiers to guard the quarantine zone. The hearth seemed to be isolated.

However, in 1970, cholera again made itself felt. On July 11, two students from Central Asia fell ill with cholera in Batumi, from them it began to spread to the local population. Doctors believed that the source of infection was located near the seashore, where sewage was drained.

On July 27, 1970, the first cases of cholera were recorded in Astrakhan, and on July 29 there were already the first victims of the disease. The situation in Astrakhan began to develop so rapidly that the country's chief sanitary doctor Peter Burgasov was forced to fly there.

In the Astrakhan region, a large crop of gourds and tomatoes ripened that year, however, the movement of barges loaded with products was blocked in order to prevent the spread of the disease to other regions. Astrakhan took the brunt of the cholera epidemic. In total, by the end of the year in the Astrakhan region, 1120 vibrio-carriers of cholera and 1270 patients were identified, of which 35 people died.

Large foci of cholera arose in Nakhichevan, Kherson, and Odessa. By decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, all persons who fell into the foci of infection were issued paid sick leave. Before leaving the infection zones, all of them had to undergo observation and bacteriological examination. For these purposes, 19 ships were used, including the flagships - the motor ships Shota Rustaveli and Taras Shevchenko.

7,093 liters of cholera vaccine, 2,250 kilograms of dry culture media, 52,428 liters of liquid culture media, millions of packs of tetracycline and huge amounts of bleach were shipped to cholera outbreaks. Through joint efforts, the epidemic was stopped. The Soviet authorities concealed the exact number of sick and dead, but it is known that the number of victims was less than 1% per 100 cases.

AIDS

Until the mid-1980s, the illness of prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexuals was something ephemeral for the USSR. In 1986, the Minister of Health of the RSFSR reported in the Vremya program: “AIDS has been raging in America since 1981, it is a Western disease. We do not have a base for the spread of this infection, since there is no drug addiction and prostitution in Russia.”

Still as they were. For example, in the "Medical newspaper" dated November 4, 1988, it was told about the presence of several brothels almost in the very center of Ashgabat. And this is only official information. The spread of AIDS in the USSR was not long in coming. Already by 1988, more than 30 infected people were identified in the USSR.

According to the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology, the first cases of HIV infection among Soviet citizens could have occurred as a result of unprotected sexual contact with African students as early as the late 70s.

In 1988, the first victim of AIDS was recorded, however, it was previously impossible to make accurate diagnoses, since the first screening for HIV in the USSR was carried out only in 1987. The first Soviet citizen who became infected with HIV is considered to be a Zaporozhye engineer named Krasichkov.

Blogger Anton Nosik, who personally knew the victim, said that Krasichkov was sent to Tanzania in 1984 for industrial construction, where he, being a passive homosexual, became infected through sexual contact. Arriving in Moscow in 1985, he "gifted" this infection to another 30 people.

By the time of the collapse of the USSR, no more than 1000 cases of AIDS were recorded. But in the future, despite preventive measures and increased sexual literacy of the population, the number of HIV cases in the CIS countries began to grow steadily.

Epidemic - the rapid spread of an infectious disease among the population, significantly exceeding the usual incidence rate for the area. It progresses over time and can become a source of emergency not only in a certain locality, but also on the territory of several countries.

The fight against epidemics as a natural element has been and remains a difficult task. Despite all the existing measures to prevent the spread of diseases, the number of victims of infection can be in the millions of people. An example is the HIV infection that has engulfed all countries of the world. Each new outbreak of the disease can be significantly different from the previous ones. The course of the epidemic is influenced by climate and weather conditions, the geographical location of the region, as well as the living and hygienic living conditions of residents.

The science of epidemiology - what does it study?

Epidemiology is a science that studies and describes the patterns of occurrence and spread of diseases, as well as ways to deal with them and preventive measures.

epidemic process

An epidemic process is the continuous spread of an infectious disease that occurs when three conditions are met:

• the presence of a source of infection;
• transmission mechanism;
• people susceptible to infection.

The absence of even one of these conditions leads to a disruption in the chain of the epidemic process and stops the transmission of the disease.

At the same time, the occurrence of the epidemic and the nature of its course are also influenced by natural conditions (the presence of natural foci of infection), social factors and the state of the healthcare system.

The beginning of an epidemic is impossible without a source of disease, where the pathogen multiplies and accumulates. This source is an infected person or animal. Moreover, the transmission of the disease is possible not only during an acute condition, but also during the period of recovery and carriage. Even when the main symptoms of the disease have subsided, and the state of health has improved significantly, microbes continue to be excreted from the body. Objects of the environment (for example, personal items - dishes, towels, etc.) can also serve as a source of the disease, because the pathogen is present on them, albeit for a limited period of time.

The spread of the epidemic

The spread of epidemics occurs through certain mechanisms of transmission of the pathogen from the source of infection to a susceptible organism.

The isolation of microbes is short-lived and is accompanied by the release of one or another substance. For example, droplets of saliva when coughing or sneezing. Once in the environment, the pathogen is transferred further with the help of air, water, food, household items, earth, live vectors - insects and animals. Then it penetrates into a healthy, but sensitive organism.

Any infectious disease is characterized by its own transmission mechanism, which was formed as a result of evolution. Depending on the location and reproduction of the pathogen in the infected organism, as well as transmission factors, four main mechanisms are distinguished:

1. Aerosol;
2. fecal-oral;
3. Transmissible;
4. Contact.

In the aerosol transmission mechanism, the spread of epidemics occurs through the air. The causative agent is released into the external environment when talking, coughing or sneezing in the form of an aerosol and can easily move inside the room and even penetrate through the corridors and ventilation ducts beyond it. Thus, the epidemic of influenza and childhood infections is supported: measles, chicken pox, whooping cough.

Severe epidemics of intestinal infections (for example, cholera) are due to the fecal-oral mechanism of transmission of the pathogen. The feces of a sick person, getting into the water, infect it, which contributes to the further spread of the disease.

The transmissible mechanism of infection transmission (through insects) underlies the spread of epidemics of the disease that has become the most terrible in the history of mankind - the plague. Insects and animals also serve as vectors for many other infectious diseases found throughout the world. For example, epidemic typhus is transmitted to humans through lice bites, malaria - mosquitoes.

The contact mechanism of transmission contributes to the development of diseases of the skin and mucous membranes, including venereal diseases. This transmission mechanism should not be underestimated, because one of the most dangerous infections of modern society - HIV is transmitted from person to person through sexual contact.

End of the epidemic

The natural end of the epidemic occurs when all susceptible people have been infected and recovered, having acquired immunity. For example, according to this scenario, a gradual decline in the incidence of influenza develops. The most susceptible to this respiratory virus are people with a weakened immune system: children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those suffering from chronic diseases if they have not been vaccinated in advance. After the “wave” of an infectious disease has swept through the most vulnerable groups of the population, the epidemic is gradually subsiding.

It is possible to put an end to the epidemic with the help of various methods of struggle aimed at all parts of the epidemic process.

The combination of various scientifically based methods of combating epidemics and prevention measures is called anti-epidemic measures. Thanks to them, it is possible to prevent the development of infectious diseases among the most vulnerable groups of the population, reduce the overall incidence in the country, and even completely eliminate individual diseases.

Anti-epidemic measures affect one or more parts of the epidemic process:

1. The source of the disease is restrictive measures;
2. Transmission mechanism - disinfection;
3. Susceptibility of the body - immunoprophylaxis.

Active measures aimed at combating an infectious disease lead to the end of the epidemic.

restrictive measures

Epidemic control measures aimed at limiting the source of the disease are introduced when cases of highly contagious infectious diseases are detected in the population that spread within a specific area, such as a city.

There are two options for restrictive measures:

• Quarantine;
• Observation.

The well-known word "quarantine" can often be heard in news releases, especially during a period of increased incidence of influenza. It implies measures that prevent the spread of a dangerous infectious disease among the population, in other words, the development of an epidemic. Quarantine is essentially the isolation of sick people (the focus of the disease).

Observation, on the contrary, provides for the isolation of a group of healthy individuals, but who have been in contact with sick people or carriers of the infection. This is necessary for medical supervision, control and, if necessary, treatment in order to prevent the onset of an epidemic or its spread.

Disinfection

The spread of the epidemic is impossible if the mechanism of infection transmission is broken. This is facilitated by the observance of general sanitary and hygienic rules, including the rules of personal hygiene, as well as disinfection. Of course, for each infectious disease, certain agents are effective, which are selected depending on the properties of the pathogen and its resistance.

There are two types of disinfection:

• Current disinfection is performed at the place of residence of the patient, if his treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis. It can be carried out, for example, by relatives, following the instructions of medical personnel;
• Final disinfection is carried out after hospitalization.

Immunoprophylaxis

To prevent infectious diseases and their active spread among the population, in fact - epidemics, immunoprophylaxis (prophylactic vaccinations) is carried out.

Vaccination of residents in various countries is carried out in accordance with the national calendar of preventive vaccinations. In the Russian Federation, it is approved by the Ministry of Health. It contains: a list of infectious diseases, the timing of vaccination against them, as well as the categories of people who should be vaccinated. The first part provides information on mandatory vaccinations, and the second part provides information on those performed only according to epidemic indications.

The fight against epidemics begins with prevention - early immunization of the population.

Various testimonies of terrifying pandemics that have caused the devastation of vast territories have survived to this day. Traces of some infectious diseases have been found in ancient burials. For example, signs of leprosy and tuberculosis are found on Egyptian mummies. The symptoms of many now known diseases are described in the manuscripts of ancient civilizations.

The first epidemic, which is called the "Justinian Plague", began during the reign of Emperor Justinian I of Byzantium. It covered the entire territory known at that time in the world and lasted for two centuries (541-750), manifesting itself in separate outbreaks.

According to the surviving chronicles, the source of the first epidemic originated in Egypt. Through trade routes, the infectious disease was brought to Constantinople, and then spread throughout the territory of Byzantium and passed to neighboring countries.

More than 100 million people worldwide fell victim to the first epidemic.

Plague epidemics

Long before the advent of science-based measures to combat the spread of epidemics in medieval Europe, people began to detain people at border points for a period of 40 days to prevent the plague. Thus, “quarantine” arose, a term which literally means “forty days” in Italian.

Plague is an acute infectious disease that belongs to the group of quarantine diseases. It runs extremely hard. It is accompanied by fever, general intoxication of the body, damage to internal organs, primarily the lungs and lymph nodes.

In natural foci, the existence of infection is supported by small rodents - marmots, ground squirrels, rats and others. The carrier of the disease are fleas. The most common forms of plague are bubonic and pneumonic.

Plague is strongly associated with an epidemic of a deadly disease. Indeed, the most famous plague epidemic, which claimed the lives of 60 million people, became one of the worst in human history and was called the Black Death. Presumably, its appearance is a consequence of the cooling of the climate, which attracted rats to people's homes. In 1320, the first cases of the disease were noted. First, the plague epidemic swept China and India, and then spread to the Don and Volga rivers. From there, the disease spread to the Caucasus and the Crimea, and was later brought to Europe.

The last plague epidemic recorded in the world was in 1910 in Manchuria. According to various estimates, from 60 to 100 thousand people became its victims. In Russia, emergency measures were taken to counter the epidemic, in particular, sanitary conditions were improved, deratization (extermination of rats) was carried out, and a new hospital in Irkutsk was equipped. Competently carried out anti-epidemic measures made it possible to prevent the further spread of the infection.

The risk of getting plague in the 21st century

Episodes of human infection with plague are recorded almost annually. This is not surprising, because natural foci of this disease exist not only in the countries of Asia and Africa, but also in Russia, for example, on Lake Baikal.

However, the risk that a plague epidemic will occur today is minimal, and you should not be afraid of this. Up until the 1970s, massive measures were taken in the Soviet Union to treat natural foci to reduce the number of rodents. At present, anti-plague brigades are constantly monitoring the area.

Smallpox or black pox is a highly contagious viral infection. In the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors brought the disease to the Americas. The Aztec Empire then occupied the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and had a population of several million people. At the end of the epidemic, after meeting with a previously unknown microbe, the number of inhabitants was halved.

In Russia, smallpox was first recorded in the early 16th century. The infection was brought to Siberia. After the epidemic, the population decreased by three times. In Europe, even in the 18th century, half a million people died every year from a dangerous disease.

In the late 1970s, WHO named smallpox as the first completely eradicated infection, thanks to worldwide vaccination. Since then, not a single case of the disease has been recorded.

cholera epidemics

Cholera is an intestinal infection that leads to a sharp loss of fluid - dehydration. The spread of the disease occurs through contaminated water or food.

The Ganges River in India is the natural focus of cholera. Humid and warm climate, non-observance of sanitary and hygienic standards, a large number of inhabitants support its existence. The first cholera pandemic began in India. From 1817 to 1926 There have been six cholera pandemics. They covered the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and America. In Russia, the cholera epidemic of 1830 was the first large-scale intestinal infection. The pathogen was brought into our country from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey.

Although there is currently an etiotropic treatment for cholera (antibacterial drugs), the mortality rate is 5-10%, primarily due to dehydration.

Epidemic typhus is an infectious disease that is accompanied by damage to the central nervous system (central nervous system), the vascular bed, as well as the appearance of a specific rash.

The source of infection is an infected person whose blood contains the pathogen. The transmission mechanism is transmissive - through carriers - head and body lice. Insects get the infection by sucking blood and after 5 days are able to spread it further. The person begins to mechanically scratch the bite site and thereby rubs lice excrement into the wound, which contributes to infection.

Typhus is called the disease of wars and natural disasters. The fact is that unsanitary conditions contribute to the spread of the epidemic - the inability to comply with sanitary and hygienic rules.

Between 1805 and 1814 A typhus epidemic engulfed the whole of Europe. The French army was in a difficult situation on the way of retreat from Russia. The soldiers were left in different cities (including Smolensk and Vilna), which led to the spread of an infectious disease.

The fight against epidemics of typhus should begin with the destruction of lice, in other words, disinfestation. The spread of the disease is also stopped by the introduction of quarantine - isolation of patients.

HIV infection is a sluggish, fatal disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. It affects the cellular link of the immune system - T-helpers (CD4), resulting in the development of secondary immunodeficiency. The body becomes virtually defenseless against a variety of microbes. Infectious diseases occur, including those uncharacteristic for people with a normally functioning immune system.

HIV epidemic in the world

The epidemic of HIV infection became known to the whole world in the late 1970s, when the disease spread throughout Africa. In Europe, it was possible to keep the situation under control until the end of the 1990s, when the total number of infected almost tripled.

According to the WHO, in 2015, 36.7 million HIV-infected patients were registered in the world. In total, more than 70 million people have been infected since the beginning of the epidemic.

According to statistics, the region with the highest mortality from HIV infection is Africa. The regions with the highest rates also include: Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Therapy of HIV infection currently remains a difficult task. Until now, there is no medicine that can kill the virus in the human body. Mortality from AIDS, as the last stage of the disease, is 100%. The HIV epidemic has been sustained for many years precisely because of this fact.

According to the UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) strategy, it is possible to stop the HIV epidemic by 2030. An important role is given to informing the population about preventive measures and methods of treatment.

The first case of HIV infection in the Soviet Union was registered in 1986. In the early 1990s, the collapse of the country led to disruption of the epidemiological service and actually contributed to the development of the HIV epidemic in Russia.

According to the results of 2015 presented by UNAIDS, the HIV epidemic in Russia continues. The rate of increase in the incidence in our country is ahead of most other countries in the world, including the African continent.

The most tense situation regarding the incidence of HIV/AIDS is in the Irkutsk region, where almost every second person out of a hundred has a diagnosis confirmed by special tests.

It is believed that the main reason for the deterioration of the situation in Russia is the lack of preventive measures, as well as the low availability of antiretroviral therapy to infected people. According to the Ministry of Health, only 37% of patients who are under constant supervision receive the necessary medicines.

Another reason for the spread of the HIV epidemic in Russia is the increase in the number of injecting drug users. After all, it is the use of intravenous drugs with non-sterile syringes that is the main route of transmission of an infectious disease.

The HIV epidemic in Russia can be stopped if promotion of preventive measures is strengthened, as well as improved provision of patients with antiretroviral therapy.

HIV and AIDS - what's the difference?

The terms HIV epidemic and AIDS epidemic are often used interchangeably. However, the difference between these terms is huge. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is an infection that affects the cells of the immune system, and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a consequence of its effect on the human body.

Currently, there is no drug that can destroy HIV, and therefore, from the moment of infection, it is constantly present in the human body. In most cases, the disease begins unnoticed. Only after the incubation period, when the immune system begins to fight the virus, do the first signs of HIV infection appear. Swollen lymph nodes, discomfort and sore throat when swallowing, diarrhea and fever are non-specific symptoms that are often mistaken for a cold. When the first symptoms fade away, a period of "calm" begins. It can last up to 15 years. At this time, the virus multiplies and gradually kills the cells of the immune system, which leads to a pronounced decrease in immunity - the stage of AIDS. Severe viral and bacterial infections, fungal diseases, oncology - all this accompanies immunodeficiency acquired as a result of HIV.

Influenza is an infectious disease that occurs with severe symptoms of intoxication (fever, headache, aching muscles and joints) and is accompanied by damage to the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.

The causative agents of influenza are types A, B, C. In this case, type A influenza causes the most severe forms of the disease.

The influenza virus epidemic remains one of the most urgent problems throughout the world, including Russia. The level of morbidity in this case depends both on the properties of the virus itself (virulence - the ability to cause disease), and on the strength of the population's immunity.

Recent influenza epidemics have the following features:

• Simultaneous circulation of different influenza A and B serotypes;
• Simultaneous circulation of influenza viruses and other respiratory viruses.

"Bird flu"

Avian influenza (H5N1) is an influenza virus that causes an infectious disease in birds, but has the ability to be transmitted from them to humans.

The disease was first described in Italy in 1880. In the 21st century, the infection spread to European countries (Austria and Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), as well as to South and North America and Africa through migratory birds. In Russia, the bird flu virus was discovered in 2005.

A person becomes infected with the virus from domestic waterfowl through droplets of their saliva or mucus. A contact route of infection is also likely.

The bird flu virus is dangerous to humans, because the pathogen is extremely contagious and causes serious damage to the respiratory tract (pneumonia), liver and kidneys. It is resistant to the antiviral drug Remantadin, which complicates the treatment of the disease.

Swine flu (H1N1) is an infectious disease that affects the respiratory tract and is accompanied by fever.

At the end of the last century, the swine flu virus began to interact with bird and human flu, in other words, it mutated. As a result, the currently well-known subtype has emerged.

The first human outbreaks of swine flu were reported in Mexico in February 2009. Despite the fact that cases of infection have been recorded in at least 13 countries of the world, the continent of North America, where the first flu epidemic was, remains the most dangerous.

Treatment and prevention of swine flu is difficult. Until now, no effective vaccine has been developed, and standard antiviral drugs do not guarantee a cure. The reason for this is the ability of the virus to mutate.

Influenza epidemic in Russia 2016-2017

The influenza virus epidemic in Russia began at the end of 2016 and continued into early 2017. In accordance with forecasts, the Hong Kong influenza (H3N2) dominates in the structure of morbidity, the pandemic of which swept across the globe in 1968-69.

Influenza symptoms are characterized by severe intoxication:

• Fever above 39°C;
• Strong headache;
• Aches in muscles and joints;
• Chills;
• Pain, pain in the eyes, lacrimation;
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
• Dry cough.

The risk group for the development of the disease includes: children, the elderly, pregnant women, as well as people suffering from chronic diseases.

During the flu season, if symptoms of a respiratory disease occur, it is necessary to see a doctor as soon as possible, because treatment should begin on the first day of illness. The most effective antiviral drugs that act directly on the virus (oseltamivir).

Symptomatic treatment is equally important. With an increase in body temperature above 38.5 ° C, the use of antipyretics is indicated. To relieve sore throat - antiseptic solutions for rinsing, lozenges and lozenges, sprays. To reduce dry cough - antitussive syrups and tablets.

To prevent an influenza epidemic, scheduled vaccination is carried out in September-October on the eve of the season. Modern vaccines practically do not cause side effects, have a narrow list of contraindications, but contain strains of influenza viruses that will be relevant according to WHO (World Health Organization) forecasts.

Children's infectious diseases: diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, scarlet fever, chicken pox - spread easily and quickly among children, causing epidemics in children's institutions. To stop the disease, restrictive measures are being taken, which include quarantine and isolation of patients.

To prevent the occurrence of epidemics of childhood infections, vaccination is carried out according to the national vaccination schedule. It is this preventive measure that is the most effective and safe. In countries where vaccination coverage for children and adults reaches 90%, outbreaks of childhood infectious diseases are unlikely.

measles epidemic

From year to year, the incidence of measles in Russia is increasing. If earlier episodes of the disease were quite rare and mainly due to imported cases, now they are associated with a lack of immunity in the population against this infection. The first reports of a measles epidemic came from St. Petersburg. Later, the disease spread to other regions of the country.

According to experts, the reason for the emergence of a childhood infection in Russia (the measles epidemic) is the refusal of many parents to carry out vaccinations or anti-vaccination. The anti-vaccination movement disputes the safety of vaccination, especially mass vaccination. However, according to the conclusion of WHO (World Health Organization) experts, most of their arguments are not supported by facts.

The measles epidemic that broke out in Ireland in 1999-2000 is a prime example of the increased incidence due to non-vaccination. At that time, the immunization rate in the country was below 80%, and in North Dublin it was 60%.

Despite the fact that modern medicine has made great strides in the treatment of many diseases, there is still no etiotropic therapy for childhood infections. Complications of measles, especially those associated with the work of the central nervous system (central nervous system), respiratory tract and digestive system, are severe and can cause death. In order to prevent the spread of the measles epidemic in Russia, vaccination is indicated for all persons under 35 years of age.

Epidemics in the modern world

It would seem that science has reached such heights in the modern world that epidemics of infectious diseases are simply impossible. However, it is not. Viruses and bacteria mutate and adapt to changing conditions in order to survive. New viruses that are resistant to antiviral drugs, long known to be no longer sensitive to antibiotics, pose a real threat. In addition, military conflicts, humanitarian disasters, the inability to comply with sanitary standards provoke the onset of epidemics, primarily intestinal infections.

The outbreak of the Ebola virus epidemic began in the summer of 2014 in Central Africa. Then, in a short period of time, a dangerous infectious disease became known to the whole world.

The virus is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids. In African countries, the spread of the epidemic is facilitated by the customs of the inhabitants. They deliberately hide the sick from doctors, and the dead are secretly buried, after washing the body. Graves are usually dug near settlements, next to running water.

The Ebola virus is characterized by the appearance of symptoms of intoxication (fever, pain in the muscles and joints, sore throat) and a violation of the blood clotting process - a tendency to bleed. In many cases, the disease is also manifested by damage to the kidneys and liver.

The end of the Ebola virus epidemic was recorded in December 2015. Although cases of the disease are still recorded in African countries.

Tuberculosis epidemic

Tuberculosis has been known since ancient times. Even the remains of Egyptian mummies retained signs of this infectious disease. However, the pathogen itself was discovered in 1882 by the German scientist Robert Koch. In honor of him, the microbe was named Koch's wand.

Tuberculosis is transmitted through the air. That is why the lungs are primarily affected, although bacteria are able to multiply in other organs - bones, skin, kidneys. With any localization of the process, the body as a whole suffers.

If a person becomes infected with the tuberculosis bacterium, this does not mean the development of the disease. The microbe can stay in the body for many years and not manifest itself, but when the immune system is weakened, it is activated.

The risk group for developing tuberculosis includes children, pregnant women and women in labor, as well as people suffering from chronic diseases. A short contact with a source of infection is enough for a child's body to get sick. That is why vaccination is carried out in the first days of a baby's life.

Tuberculosis is classified as an epidemic in Russia, which is gaining momentum. It is caused by several factors: the resistance of bacteria to many drugs and the unfavorable living conditions of people.

Tuberculosis is considered a social disease. It affects people living in poverty. In our country, the development of the epidemic is facilitated by the deterioration in the standard of living of the population, the emergence of homeless people and refugees. In addition, for various reasons, the inhabitants of Russia neglect preventive measures, which include annual fluorography. Only 30-40% of the population are screened regularly.

Epidemic of venereal diseases

According to the international classification of diseases, there are 9 infections that are predominantly sexually transmitted (venereal diseases). These include: syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomonas infection, genital herpes, human papillomavirus infection and 3 more infectious diseases that are common in tropical countries and are not found in Russia.

In 1993, a strict system of clinical examination and registration of patients ceased to work, and migration of the population began. This was the reason for the start of an epidemic of STIs (infections that are predominantly sexually transmitted) in Russia.

Fighting the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases is a difficult task. First of all, because many microbes no longer respond to antibacterial drugs, they become resistant to them. For example, gonococcus, the infection that causes gonorrhea, is no longer sensitive to penicillin. The fact is that doctors of different specialties - dermatologists, gynecologists, urologists use their own treatment regimens, which include the appointment of a variety of antibiotics. This approach leads to the mutation of the microbe and the loss of sensitivity to drugs.

The spread of the epidemic can be stopped with the help of preventive measures. First of all, it is educational work among the population. Until people realize the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, they do not attach due importance to them. However, some sexually transmitted diseases (for example, genital herpes) remain forever in the human body and can be activated every month, causing suffering. Other infections can cause infertility or abortion.