The epidemiological status of the Russian Empire: history of research in domestic science and practice

This article discusses the history of the study of epidemic diseases in domestic science, analyses the main tendencies of epidemiology as a science in Russia. The importance of the work of scientists – practitioners is the fight against infectious diseases in previous centuries, the positive experience which is the basis of modern science of epidemiology. This fight against infectious diseases in previous centuries had mixed results. On the one hand, domestic and foreign epidemiologists outstanding results have been achieved in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, which allowed significantly reduce of the morbidity and mortality rates in the XX–XXI centuries. At the same time, the history of the modern period is characterized by a set of social and economic changes: the growth of cities, the intensity of migration, transformation also affected the age structure of the population of the world. All these factors have led to a change in one of the main characteristics of the majority of infectious diseases – the limited territorial localization in the XXI century. It is observed the tendency of spread of epidemics to a considerable distance, they become global. New and unknown diseases such as SARS, swine and bird flu (H1N1 and H5N1), Ebola virus, the middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS), etc. arise at this time. It is registered the return of liquidated infections: typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, etc. These processes show that humanity is still a long way to complete victory over infectious diseases, and to study the experience achieved in the previous century scientists – epidemiologists. They would make a significant contribution in the unequal struggle with the human virus.