Problems of Social Hygiene, Public Health and History of MedicineProblems of Social Hygiene, Public Health and History of Medicine0869-866X2412-2106Joint-Stock Company Chicot228110.32687/0869-866X-2025-33-s1-808-815Научная статьяEXPERIENCE IN ELIMINATING PLAGUE OUTBREAKS IN JAPAN AND RUSSIA IN THE EARLY XX CENTURYGorshkov-CantacuzeneV. A.SumidaT.MordvinovI. O.310820253380881529092025Copyright © 1970,1970By the beginning of the 20th century, plague was still a terrible enemy of mankind, striking ruthlessly at cities and claiming many lives. However, the causative agent of the disease had already been discovered and the medical community was gradually beginning to develop science-based approaches to sanitary protection, although quarantine in ports was still the main anti-epidemic measure. A number of countries had already established specialized institutions, conducted scientific research, trained specialists in handling pathogens of particularly dangerous infections, and maintained and published reports. In this regard, it seems very useful and instructive to compare the experience of elimination of plague outbreaks in the Japanese and Russian empires. This article, based on extant historical documents, examines the experience of plague outbreaks in the cities of Yokohama and Odessa in 1902. Since both cities are port cities and were often the scene of battles with particularly dangerous infections, such a comparison is the most correct, although rather limited, due to the paucity of extant information. Nevertheless, the results show that quarantine is no longer considered the only measure to combat plague, ceding the pedestal to disinfection, microbiological monitoring and epizootological surveillance. In particular, participants in those events conclude that a plague epizootic on rats is possible, and that the hygienic condition of cities must be improved. Clinical techniques and health education are improved, but failures by the sanitary services of each state are also revealed.plagueepidemicRussiaJapanчумаэпидемияРоссияЯпония1.Kitasato S. The bacillus of bubonic plague (preliminary notice) // Lancet. 1894. No. 1. P. 428–430.2.Yersin A. La peste bubonique a Hong-Kong // Ann. Inst. Pasteur (Paris). 1894. No. 8. P. 662–667. (In French)3.Daniel M. Tajné stezky smrtonošů. Kolumbus. 1985. 259 p. (In Chech.)4.Kitasato S. Fighting plague in Japan // New York Medical Journal. 1906. Vol. 84. P. 1–9.5.Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Collected III. 1897. Vol. XVII. 13635. P. 9.6.Andryushkevich T. V., Grekova T. I. Plague Fort // History of St. Petersburg. 2003. No. 5. P. 48–53.7.Plague epidemic in Harbin and its environs in the alienation zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1910-11: medical report on the activities of the anti-plague bureau: with 16 photographic images, 16 plans and 9 diagrams. Compiled by Dr. V. M. Bogutsky. Harbin; 1911. 404 p.8.Black Death Outbreak. Yokohama Trade Newspaper. 1902. No. 2.9.Japan: Report from Yokohama. Origin and Status of Plague in Tokyo // Public Health Reports (1896–1970). 1903. Vol. 18, No. 6. P. 185–187.10.Kitasato S. Nippon ni okeru pesuto no manen oyobi bokumetsu. Manuscript K00094 from the collection of the Gakkō hōjin Kitasato kenkyūjo Kitasato Shibasaburō kinen hakubutsukan.11.Kitasato S. The spread and eradication of plague in Japan // J. Bacteriol. 1908. Vol. 146. P. 1–19. DOI: 10.14828/jsb1895.1908.112.Plague in Odessa: history and epidemiology of the study. Compiled by Drs. of Medicine V. A. Belilovsky and N. F. Gamaleya by order of Major-General Count Shuvalov. Odessa; 1903. 176 p.13.Plague in Odessa in 1910. Epidemiology, pathology, clinic, bacteriology and measures / eds. L. N. Malinovsky, D. K. Zabolotny, P. N. Bulatov. St. Petersburg; 1912. 310 p.14.WHO guidelines for plague management: revised recommendations for the use of rapid diagnostic tests, fluoroquinolones for case management and personal protective equipment for prevention of post-mortem transmission. Geneva; 2021. 62 p.15.Acuna-Soto R., Calderón-Romero L., Romero-López D., Bravo-Lindoro A. Murine typhus in Mexico City // Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2000. Vol. 94, N 1. P. 45. DOI: 10.1016/S0035-9203(00)90432-216.Minahan N. T., Wu W.-J., Tsai K. H. Rickettsia felis is an emerging human pathogen associated with cat fleas: A review of findings in Taiwan // J. Microbiol. Immunol. Infect. 2023. Vol. 56, N 1. P. 10–19. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmii.2022.12.00617.Plague Photo Slides // Osaka Asahi Newspaper. 1901. No. 11.18.Okazaki Gishō et al. Pocket Bacteriology. Nankōdō; 1904. 86 p.