How a smallpox epidemic was prevented in Moscow in 1960 in a month

Let's remember the unprecedented history of the liquidation in Moscow of an outbreak of smallpox, which could have spread throughout the world and killed millions. But it did not happen.

The end of December 1959 - the Soviet Union is engulfed in New Year's bustle. A huge country that rose from the ruins after the end of the Great Patriotic War straightens its shoulders. In just over a year, it will be a citizen of the USSR Gagarin who will conquer space ... But only few people kew that then, in 1959, our country was one step away from a catastrophe that would have turned the course of modern history.

Death is a gift

December 23rd. The Delhi-Moscow plane lands at the capital's Vnukovo airport: Aleksey Alekseevich Kokorekin, an artist and twice winner of the Stalin Prize for posters on a military theme, has returned from a two-week cultural trip to India.

Straight from the airport, the 53-year-old man went to ... his mistress.

“Having gained impressions and gifts, he returned to Moscow a day earlier than his wife was waiting for him. He spent that time with his mistress, to whom he gave gifts and in whose arms he spent the night not without pleasantness. Having predicted the arrival of the plane from Delhi in time, he came home the next day, and now presented gifts to his wife and daughter,” the surgeon Yuri Shapiro shared in his memoirs.

After a couple of days, Kokorekin felt bad: his head and lower back ached, the temperature rose, he got a strong cough, rashes appeared on the skin. On December 27, the artist's wife called an ambulance. Alexei Alekseevich was hospitalized in the Botkin hospital with a diagnosis of influenza. As December was a season of colds.

Having a certain status in society, Kokorekin enjoyed privileges: contrary to the rules, hospital workers allowed friends and family of the artist to visit him. Alas, the standard treatment for influenza did not bring results, the patient was fading away before the eyes of his family.

On December 29, Alexei Alekseevich died in a circle of close people.

He passed away without knowing that, along with numerous gifts, he brought death itself from India - smallpox. This is the most dangerous disease, the lethal outcome of which reaches 40%. Just think: among adults, one in seven dies, and one in three among children and adolescents. A couple of centuries ago, smallpox decimated the world's population.

An amazing thing: for a long time the doctors themselves did not know about the diagnosis. Why? The fact is that the last person infected with smallpox in the USSR was recorded in 1936, after which this disease was completely eradicated on the territory of the state. By 1960, there were practically no specialists left in our country who would have seen smallpox with their own eyes and could identify it.

Plague in question

In the USSR, when an outstanding person passed away, the reasons for his death should have been clear and transparent. Alas, the examination of the late Kokorekin did not bring results. About a day after the death of the artist, the diagnosis sounded like "Plague? ..". Many of the symptoms diverged, but the dumbfounded specialists could not assume anything else.

It is interesting that it was the nurse registering Kokorekin at the Botkin hospital who noticed rashes on his body and suggested that he was ill with smallpox. But specialists with many years of experience only laughed at the young girl.

Nevertheless, the standard burial of the body of Alexei Alekseevich was not considered. Cremation only.

“The workers, knowing that he died of some terrible disease, refused to carry the coffin. And the three of us - me and two other artists Konstantin Ivanov and Konstantin Mistakidi - carried the coffin to the ovens. And the workers, taking a long stick, pushed the coffin into the furnace,” recalls Kokorekin’s close friend, artist Ruben Suryaninov.

Very soon, with similar symptoms, the same nurse and the attending doctor of the late artist fell ill. And then also the stoker of the Botkin hospital, who, to his misfortune, only once just walked past Kokorekin's ward, fell ill too.

The young girl recovered, but the men died in agony.

Awareness of the impending catastrophe required urgent solutions. All the luminaries of medicine were connected to the problem. The correct diagnosis was made by the virologist Mikhail Akimovich Morozov, an expert on smallpox, who worked since Tsarist Russia.

It was Morozov who, thanks to his unique method of silvering particles, on January 15, 1960, revealed elements of a dangerous virus in the material provided.

Professor Viktor Zuev, a junior researcher in those years, recalls this day like this:

“Mikhail Akimovich Morozov quickly figured out what was going on. Under his dictation, I wrote a memorandum to the Minister of Health of the USSR Kurashov. I still remember the text: “In the preparation of patient T (we are talking about a deceased doctor), Paschen bodies were found.” That was the name of the smallpox virus particles.

Domino principle

The report instantly reached the Kremlin. The authorities understood how much time had been lost: since returning to Moscow, Aleksey Alekseevich had been in contact with dozens of people, and those, in turn, with dozens more. The situation was aggravated by the recent New Year holidays: Muscovites took part in mass celebrations, went to visit each other. The situation looked really terrible.

To begin with, the KGB was instructed to establish where a well-to-do and respected citizen, vaccinated against smallpox a year earlier, found this disease. The chain of events led to India. According to the rules of such a trip, the Soviet delegation was accompanied everywhere by a special person, and the travel route was pre-agreed and safe.

Nevertheless, it turned out that the artist, at the invitation of Indian friends, attended the ceremony of burning a Brahmin - a man of the highest caste.

In India, corpses have been burned for centuries. Varanasi, where Kokorekin ended up, was not in vain called the City of Death: every day thousands of people flock there from all over the country to die on the banks of the sacred river Ganges. Hindus believe that thanks to this they immediately go to heaven. On the embankments of the Ganges bonfires are constantly burning. Life and death are so intertwined there that no one is surprised by the dead bodies floating in the river next to living people, the burning or rotting bodies on the shore with the cadaverous smell.

“The artist was so curious, and the Indians allowed him to look at the corpse up close and to take a piece of cloth in which the corpse was wrapped. He took this piece to Moscow and presented it to his mistress. And then no one in India knew that a brahmin died of smallpox,” said Fyodor Lisitsyn, candidate of biological sciences.

In the shortest possible time, it was established with whom Kokorekin communicated the last days before his death. It was here that the details about the rich personal life of the artist were revealed. The lover, by the way, by that time had managed to hand over Indian gifts to a thrift store, thereby continuing the chain of infections. The State Security Committee (KGB) was involved in the case.

KGB officers (by still unknown to us forces) identified everyone: from relatives and friends to casual acquaintances.

Not only people from the artist’s inner circle were urgently examined and hospitalized, but also crew members and passengers of the Delhi-Moscow plane, employees of the Vnukovo airport, a taxi driver, neighbors, colleagues, members of the party assembly, shop sellers (including that thrift store), their buyers, even casual interlocutors. The entire course where Kokorekin's daughter studied was withdrawn from study, and all people were taken out of the hostel where the girl's fiancé lived.

Among those who visited Kokorekin in the hospital was Ruben Suryaninov. Soon he and his wife Nina felt bad, however, the girl decided to fly to Riga anyway, where she had an exam. In the capital of Latvia, Nina got worse, and Ruben flew out for her. They returned home together. The special services found the passengers of all three flights, as well as the terminal workers, and put them in quarantine

KGB officers also learned about one of the potentially infected man when he was on the plane on its way to Paris. At that very moment, the pilots were ordered (!) to turn the plane back. All passengers in the cabin after landing, without any explanation, were sent to isolation.

As a result of a lightning-fast special operation, dozens of cases were identified, and another 11,000 people were under round-the-clock surveillance. Nevertheless, the chain of potential infected people continued to grow exponentially. Very soon it became clear: the whole capital was under threat, and, by the way, at that time it was more than seven million people.

Quarantine without quarantine

One step away from a catastrophe that had not threatened humanity since the Middle Ages, Moscow was immediately closed. Surprisingly, there was no official declaration of a state of emergency. At one point, intercity tickets for all types of transport disappeared from sale, citizens were not recommended to leave their homes for a long time.

“People remember that the city was closed because there were checks at railway stations and small airports,” Fedor Lisitsyn said.

The Botkin hospital ended up in a barracks position, which meant that no one was let in or let out of the building. Additional beds and mattresses were brought in as soon as possible. But there was not enough bed linen for everyone (which is almost 3,000 patients and 5,000 medical staff).

“By a special decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the emergency supply of linen for air defense was opened. That was the event,” recalls Viktor Zuev, who was then at the epicenter of events. Opening the emergency stock was more of a forced measure: the authorities could confiscate linen from stores, but this would provoke rumors and create a threat of panic.

The special operation was personally controlled by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. He ordered to prevent information from leaking, as he understood that as soon as Muscovites became aware of the danger, they would immediately run away from the capital and the infection would spread throughout the USSR. Of course, there were rumors, but the secret services resolutely suppressed them. The city remained in the dark.

“The beginning of the epidemic took place in an atmosphere of shock and fear for doctors and special services. Plus, the New Year holidays - the population is relaxed, in no case should panic be allowed. The brigades that were engaged in the disinfection and isolation of potential carriers moved in covered vans,” said Alexander Maksimov, ex-employee of the FSB of the Russian Federation.

Of course, people in masks and antibacterial suits, similar to aliens, were still seen. Surprisingly, there was no panic. Generally. “It was alarming, but Muscovites behaved very worthily. There was no rush demand in the stores, everyone behaved calmly and in a disciplined manner,” recalls Ruben Suryaninov. Today, we, observing the panic and a huge amount of fake news about the coronavirus, can hardly imagine that 60 years ago our grandparents accepted a similar situation so steadfastly and sensibly. 

Unprecedented action 

The country's leadership had no choice but to conduct a total vaccination of the population. And with lightning speed, in the shortest possible time. It was decided to vaccinate not only the whole of Moscow, but also the Moscow suburbs, and this was more than 10 million people!

Moscow did not have such a supply of vaccine.

An emergency production of the drug was launched, it was also decided to use the state reserve stock located in the Far East. Alas, at that time bad weather raged there, the planes did not fly. The option of sending the vaccine by train was not considered: waiting for several days was too dangerous. Then the military forces were connected: the vaccine was delivered to Moscow by jet planes. Everything took less than a day.

People were informed about the total vaccination by radio, with the help of loudspeakers. It was impossible to refuse: without an appropriate certificate of vaccination, it was impossible to enter the city or leave it. Citizens could not even buy a ticket.

Everyone was vaccinated - newborns, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, old people, sick and even dying people. They vaccinated everywhere: in homes, at spontaneously equipped points, in hospitals, trains, and railway stations. Vaccinations were selectively made even in other cities - people who had contact with the infected.

In just a week, one and a half million people a day, vaccination was successfully carried out. Smallpox was eradicated in the USSR for the second time. The elimination of the infection took 44 days, and to be more precise, the organized fight against it lasted only 19 days.

How? How could the state, without noise and dust, quickly eliminate a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions?

What was it - luck, well-coordinated actions, the advantages of a strict state regime and the absence of the Internet? We can only guess. But the fact remains: the events of 1960 are an unprecedented event, with minimal losses (and we are talking about only three dead, including Kokorekin himself).

“The sanitary and epidemiological service of the Soviet Union and Russia is the best in the world. And I say this not out of cross-cutting patriotism, but because I partially participated in all these events,” admits Viktor Zuev. Alas, in those years, no one knew about the real feat of medical workers. Khrushchev decided to keep the events secret, so none of the doctors who saved thousands of lives were assigned to the award. 

One warrior in the field 

If smallpox was eradicated in our country, it continued to kill people around the world. In the twentieth century, more than 300 million people died from this infection! But the seriousness of the threat seemed to be understood only in the USSR.

Back in 1958, a year before the events in Moscow, virologist Viktor Mikhailovich Zhdanov spoke at the World Health Assembly with a program for the global eradication of smallpox on the planet.

Its essence was simple: to vaccinate the population (and in the USSR since the 1920s a powder vaccine was invented that can be stored for many years) until the last patient left in the world who should be isolated and thereby prevent any spread of infection

WHO accepted the initiative of the Soviet Union, but only in words. Funding was scarce, and the Organization was much more willing to support the United States in its fight against malaria.

Nevertheless, the events of 1960 in Moscow showed that smallpox could (and should!) be eradicated. Then WHO completely entrusted this work to the USSR. Several of the best virologists of our country were sent to the countries of South Asia and Africa for total vaccination of people.

What our experts have done is beyond description and comparison. Judge for yourself: in 1980, the World Health Organization informed mankind that smallpox was no longer on the planet.

@Cheshirry