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- Combat cleansing: Soviet penicillin and the first vaccine against seven infections
Combat cleansing: Soviet penicillin and the first vaccine against seven infections
From the very beginning of the war, strict rules for wound treatment and mandatory vaccination were introduced at the front. Scientists have not stopped creating new remedies against bacteria. Soviet penicillin was first obtained in besieged Stalingrad, and NIISI invented the world's first multivaccine for seven dangerous infectious diseases at once. It was absolutely necessary in military conditions. Izvestia collected data from archival documents, evidence from historians and eyewitness accounts of the events of those years.
Prevent epidemics
From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, infectious diseases were perceived by the country's leadership as a serious danger to the front and rear. Indeed, in conditions of armed conflict, it is difficult to comply with sanitary standards and avoid epidemics. A week after the start of hostilities, the "Regulation on medical and sanitary services for the population evacuated from threatened areas" was issued, which established mandatory vaccination against acute intestinal infections of citizens who were to be drafted into the army, as well as residents of large cities, an associate professor at the Department of History of Medicine and Social Sciences of the Institute of Humanities told Izvestia. Peter Falaleev, PhD, Pirogov University.
The first ampoules of Soviet penicillin obtained by Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Z.V. Ermolova
— The regulation prescribed the diagnosis and hospitalization of infectious patients as soon as possible. Mobile epidemiological detachments were formed at the district health departments, and the activities of public health instructors were launched. In May 1941, in accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense, the post of chief epidemiologists of the fronts appeared in the USSR. And in February 1942, at the initiative of the head of the Red Army's Sanitary Department, Yefim Smirnov, a "Unified military field medical Doctrine" was developed, the expert said.
She prescribed the disinfection of wounds with special attention and included four main provisions related to this procedure.:
1) All gunshot wounds are primarily infected.
2) The only reliable method of combating gunshot wound infection is their primary treatment.
3) Most of the wounded need early surgical treatment.
4) The wounded, who underwent surgical treatment in the first hours of injury, give the best prognosis.
Thanks to these rules, it was possible to significantly reduce the death rate among the wounded in hospitals.
Soviet penicillin
Nevertheless, blood poisoning remained a serious problem, which, while in Stalingrad, was dealt with by the famous Soviet microbiologist and epidemiologist Zinaida Ermolyeva. By the beginning of the war, she was already a recognized scientist, the author of the technology for isolating the natural antiseptic lysozyme and a specialist in combating cholera. She was sent to the besieged city in 1942, as an outbreak of this infection began among the German troops there. In the face of street fighting and constant bombing, her team established the production of a preventive remedy against the disease, which was received by up to 50,000 people per day. As a result, Soviet troops and local residents managed to avoid the epidemic.
Zinaida Vissarionovna Ermolyeva, microbiologist, full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, creator of antibiotics in the USSR
Ermolyeva already had experience studying mold, and she was familiar with the results of the research of Alexander Fleming, who in 1929 for the first time obtained an effective antibiotic from this type of fungus — penicillin. Although its production was already established in the West during the Second World War, they were in no hurry to share the technology with the allies. And the substance could become a remedy against streptococcus and staphylococcus. Therefore, Soviet scientists decided to create it themselves. They collected mold wherever possible: on trees and in dark corners, and purposefully grew it on food. So, the 93rd sample found on the wall of the bomb shelter had the necessary properties. Later, British scientist Howard Florey, visiting the USSR, took a sample of Soviet penicillin and compared it with Western. Ermolyeva's substance proved to be more effective.
Multivaccine for seven infections
New vaccines developed during the war played an important role in the fight against infections. The anti-cholera remedy created before the Second World War had to be administered in three injections for three months, which was difficult to implement in the field. Therefore, in 1941, Soviet scientists of the Scientific Research Testing Sanitary Institute (NIISI), spouses Nikolai Alexandrov and Nina Gefen, began developing a vaccine against seven diseases at once.
As a result, the famous "polyvaccina NIISI" was created. In addition to cholera, she protected against typhoid fever, paratyphoid A and B, Shiga and Flexner dysentery, as well as tetanus. It used endotoxin contained in bacterial cells as an active ingredient.
A box of penicillin in vials for injection
By the middle of the spring of 1942, 10,000 people had been vaccinated with the drug. Even one injection had a noticeable epidemiological effect. The I.I. Mechnikov Moscow Institute of Vaccines and Serums began to produce several million doses per year. In 1943, polyvaccina joined the army. From April 1 to May 15, mass vaccination of military personnel was carried out. In total, more than 30 million people received the drug during the Second World War. It was the first multivaccine in the world, a single vaccination of which protected against seven infections at once.
— As a result of all these actions, the share of infectious diseases in the total incidence in the Soviet Army during the Great Patriotic War was only 9%, — said Peter Falaleev.
New vaccines for the front
A significant contribution to the fight against infections during the Great Patriotic War was made by the staff of the N.F. Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. At that time, the organization was called the Central Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (CIEM). Its staff was evacuated to Kazan, Alma Ata and Sverdlovsk, where work continued on the creation and production of vaccines and biologics necessary for the country. The scientists already had certain developments that allowed them to achieve results quickly.
Vials of penicillin produced by the medical products factory.
— A special laboratory has been set up to create a typhus vaccine. When the scientists moved to Kazan, they completed its development there. And after returning to Moscow, they started producing the drug, took it to the front, and handed it over to the civilian population in the liberated areas," said Natalia Karazhas, head of the museum at the N.F. Gamalei Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Dysentery vaccines, anti-gangrenous and tetanus vaccinations were also created. The production of drugs during the war in CIEM was higher than in peacetime. The staff's working day has been expanded to 11 hours. And after it was over, the specialists went to dig trenches. In addition, the institute developed and produced the most important antibiotics, Gramicidin and Streptomycin, which were necessary for wound treatment, treatment of pneumonia and other infections.
Scientific search
Despite all the difficulties, fundamental scientific work continued. Virologist Mikhail Morozov improved the smallpox vaccine created earlier in the Soviet Union.
— During the war, he improved the method of obtaining the drug — he created a dry and heat-resistant vaccine. So much was produced that Professor Rogozin, who was the head of the Ministry of Health at the time, said that "if it hadn't been for Morozov, we would have lost several divisions." That's how the front needed her," Natalia Karazhas said.
Another prominent scientist, Lev Alexandrovich Zilber, who was arrested in 1940, came up with a drug to combat scurvy in the camp — it was alcohol-infused yagel. He also developed a virogenetic theory of cancer, which he wrote down on tissue paper and passed on to his wife during a date. In 1944, after Stalin learned about his achievements, the scientist was released, he continued to work at the Central Research Institute in a specially created laboratory. As a result, Silber's theory gained worldwide recognition, Natalia Karazhas emphasized.
Two wins
According to Viktor Zuev, a virologist and Honorary vice-president of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, ensuring the safety of the Soviet army and citizens from infections during the Patriotic War was no less important than fighting with weapons.
— We won two battles: one on the battlefield with the enemy, and the second with infectious diseases. And the main role in this was played by the good organization of our sanitary and epidemiological service. Even before the war, we managed to eliminate a number of infectious diseases in the country. For example, we defeated the plague because mass vaccinations were organized. New vaccines were distributed in the army, and we did not have a widespread incidence," said Viktor Zuev.
The scientist's opinion is especially valuable, as he witnessed and participated in the events in question. As a 14-year-old boy, he worked as an orderly on the permanent military ambulance train No. 188, which his father was in charge of. Such trains were used to deliver the wounded to the rear. A young employee carried food and drink to patients, moving through inconvenient passages between cars.
The discovery of penicillin was also an important contribution of Soviet medicine to the victory, as this antibiotic proved to be a more effective remedy against infections than existing drugs at that time, Viktor Zuev emphasized.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
