The paper describes sanitary-hygienic, epidemiological, medical and food measures against carried out by medics during the outbreaks of typhus in 1908–1914. As this infection became a hunger marker in Russia, the object of the study is an epidemic situation in three counties (“uezd”) of the Perm province — Ekaterinburgskiy, Kamyshlovskiy, Shadrinskiy — which population constantly suffered from a crop failure. Based on the materials of “The medical and sanitary chronicle of the Perm province”, (“Vrachebno-sanitarnaya hronika Permskoy gubernii”) containing publications describing epidemics of typhus, the author considers application of the achievements of biological and medical sciences for outlining rational strategy for measures against typhus (implementation of disinfection and disinsection procedures) and identifies two organizational innovations introduced in that time. The first epidemiological teams consisting of doctors, paramedics (“fel’dsher”) and nurses were organized and sent to the epidemic focuses. These units were intended to detect, isolate and treat typhus patients, carry out disinfection and disinfestation in special temporary anti-typhoid barracks. The population began to use temporary hospitals actively, disinfect their houses and property. However, the insufficient knowledge of a transmission pathway of infection (its causative agent — Rickettsia prowazekii — and the carrier — body lice) hampered the further development of effective anti-typhoid measures and, as a result, challenged the whole complex of proposed activities.
Detection of Rickettsia prowazekii in Body Lice and Their Feces by Using Monoclonal Antibodies