9 deadly diseases that science has conquered

1. Lepra (leprosy)

The first mentions of leprosy appeared in ancient scriptures. In medieval Europe, thousands of leper colony worked - special places for observing the infected. The patients were also isolated from people: they were obliged to wear clothes that cover their face and body, and also a rattle or a bell so that they could always be bypassed.

Lepra is a chronic infectious disease caused by an acid-fast bacillus bacillus. You can catch it from close contact with an infected person. The disease is often fatal or disabling.

Symptoms

Leprosy strikesLeprosy skin, peripheral nervous system, mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract and eyes. Its main symptoms are:

• loss of pigmentation and numbness of skin areas;
• skin growths, thickening and dryness;
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• ulcers on the feet;
• painful swelling on the face and ears;
• loss of eyebrows and eyelashes;
• muscle weakness;
• expansion of nerves;
• deterioration of vision up to blindness;
• nosebleeds and nasal congestion.

What stopped the spread

There are no preventive measures to stop leprosy. But there is effective treatment. The first drug for leprosy, dapsone, was developed in the 1940s. He stopped the development of the disease, but did not cure it. Dapsone had to be taken throughout my life. In addition, resistance was developed to it.

In the 1960s, a solution was found: it was replaced by the more effective combination drug therapy (KLT), which is still used today. In addition to dapsone, it includes rifampicin and clofazimine. KLT treatment lasts 6 to 12 months. During this time, she kills the bacillus and leads to recovery. Since 1995, WHO has provided CRT free of charge to those infected with leprosy around the world. The organization is also involved in providing rehabilitation for all people who have remained disabled after leprosy.

Effective treatment has stopped the spread of the disease. Leprosy was ruled out in 2000Leprosy of the diseases that pose a threat to public health: the number of cases was less than 1 case per 10,000 people. And at the end of 2017, the figure dropped to 0.3 per 10,000 people.

2. Smallpox

Smallpox is the only disease recognized by WHOSmallpox completely destroyed. And this is something to be glad about. Smallpox, aka blackpox, is a very contagious disease caused by two types of viruses: Variola major and Variola minor. It was transmitted mainly by airborne droplets, but it could also be caught from contact with the skin of an infected person or his personal objects. Moreover, the patient remained contagious all the time: from the incubation period to the last day. Moreover, the corpses of those who died from smallpox were also unsafe.

Presumably the disease appeared more than 3,000 years ago: traces similar to smallpox lesions, scientists have found17th Century Variola Virus Reveals the Recent History of Smallpox from the Egyptian mummies. During this time, the disease managed to strike a blow in almost all countries of the world. In some cases, the mortality rate reached 90%.

Symptoms

The first symptoms of smallpox resembledSmallpox flu: fever, muscle weakness, headache. Then skin ulcers were added to them. Within a few days, they filled with liquid, eventually fell off and left scars on the skin. The ulcers did not bypass the mucous membranes - damage there turned into erosion. Later, the person could develop delirium, convulsions and changes in the composition of the blood. In some cases, smallpox has led to blindness.

What stopped the spread

Historically, the first way to deal with smallpox was variolation, that is, deliberately infecting a healthy person. It has been used in Asian countries since the 7th century. In Europe (including the Russian Empire) it was tested in the 18th century. But this method was controversial. Pus taken from the patients' pockmarks was injected into the blood of people, after which some really developed immunity, but others could not stand it and died after the procedure.

Vaccine based on vaccinia has become a safer method of control. At the end of the 18th century, several scientists noticed the similarity of the disease in animals and humans. In 1796, the English physician Edward Jenner took biomaterial from a milkmaid who had contracted the infection from a cow and inoculated an eight-year-old boy with it. At the injection site, smallpox appeared, but did not go further. Two years later, he publishedAn Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae: A Disease their observations.

Mass vaccination in England and a number of other countries started at the beginning of the 19th century. But outbreaks continued to occur. The decision of the World Health Organization helped to stop the spread of smallpox around the world: in 1967, it announced the start of mass vaccination. The last recorded case of infection occurred in 1977 in Somalia, and in 1980, WHO officially announced the victory over the virus.

3. Spanish flu

At the beginning of the 20th century, this H1N1 serotype influenza caused a terrible pandemic. From 1918 to 1919, approximately 550 million people were ill with it. In addition, the "Spanish flu" led to mass mortality: according to various sources, they died from the diseaseReassessing the Global Mortality Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic from 50 to 100 million infected. The spread of influenza was facilitated by the First World War: unsanitary conditions, malnutrition and crowded camps.

The disease got its name because the Spanish authorities were the first to report mass infections. Although at that time people were already sick in other countries, the military censorship simply prohibitedFrom the history of epidemiology: "SPANISH": the worst flu epidemic in the history of mankind talk about it.

Symptoms

"Spaniard" was differentThe Threat of Pandemic Influenza: Are We Ready? Workshop Summary symptoms from other types of flu, so it has sometimes been misdiagnosed as cholera, typhoid fever, and dengue. The patients had bleeding from the mucous membranes and ears, hemorrhages in the eyes, movement disorders, depression and paresis (paralysis of the brain or spinal cord).

Severe forms of the Spanish flu also accompanied cyanosis (blue discoloration of the skin), pneumonia, and coughing up blood. And the main cause of death is considered a cytokine storm - a sharp increased reaction of the immune system.

What stopped the spread

The end of the war and the introduction of quarantine measures and sanitary measures made it possible to reduce the incidence: patients were not allowed contact with people, mass events were prohibited, increased attention was paid to personal hygiene and disinfection, masks. By the summer of 1919, the disease had disappeared.

4. Diphtheria

An infectious disease that provokes a diphtheria bacillus, aka Löffler's bacillus. The bacterium enters the body through the inhaled air, then inside it releases a toxin that affects the respiratory system. In rare cases, it can also be transmitted by contact and everyday life - for example, if you use a towel from an infected person.

Bright outbreaks of diphtheria beganThe strangling of children (diphtheria) in Spain (XVI and XVII centuries) in the 16th century. Sometimes the disease ended in recovery, but there were enough deaths. So, at the end of the XIX century in Europe and the United States from diphtheria diedDiphtheria vaccine 50% infected. Serious epidemics of diphtheria were also in the recent past, for example, in the former republics of the USSR in the early nineties. Then tens of thousands of people fell ill every year, and the cause of the spread of the bacillus wasHow anti-vaccines sparked epidemics of long-defeated diseases refusal of revaccination of the adult population.

Symptoms

Diphtheria begins to showDiphtheria yourself quickly: two to five days after infection. With luck, there will be no symptoms at all, or they will resemble a mild cold. In other cases, everything is worse:

• the mucous membrane of the throat and tonsils will be covered with a dense gray film;
• hoarseness and discomfort in the throat will appear;
• swollen glands;
• breathing becomes difficult;
• nasal discharge, fever and chills will appear.

If the infection gets into the bloodstream, it can damage the nervous system and even the heart. These symptoms are characteristic of the main, that is, airborne, method of transmission of diphtheria. If the bacteria has entered the body through the skin, redness, swelling and itching or even ulcers covered with a gray crust may appear on the integument of the body.

What stopped the spread

The first effective drug for diphtheria appearedDevelopment of vaccine prevention at the end of the 19th century, when the German scientist Emil von Behring made serum with antitoxin (a component produced in the blood of those who had had diphtheria). In 1891, he vaccinated her children in a hospital in a Berlin clinic. And the children recovered. But the effect was not one hundred percent. Bering modified the serum with his colleague Paul Ehrlich, and in 1901 he received the Nobel Prize for the development.

And in 1923, French scientist Gaston Ramon created a prophylactic serum. From that moment on, vaccination against diphtheria began. Preventive measures have reduced its spread significantly. So, according to WHO, from 1980 to 2000, the incidence rate decreasedDiphtheria vaccine from 98,000 cases to 9,000. In Europe over the past decade, the highest peak of infection wasWHO epidemiological report 2018, but even then only 82 people fell ill. At the same time, the disease still remains a problem in areas with a low percentage of vaccinated population, for example, in sub-Saharan Africa.

5. Polio

Poliomyelitis is a viral disease that affects the nervous system. In the middle of the twentieth century, tens of thousands of people fell ill with it in Europe, the USSR and the United States every year. First of all, children under five suffered. You can catch polioPolio through contaminated water or food, or from contact with a sick person (fecal-oral route).

Symptoms

Although polio is a deadly disease, it often doesn’t show itself in any way.Polio and doesn't get to the nervous system. Also, some people may have mild symptoms, like a flu or a cold: cough, fever, headache, nausea, abdominal and muscle pain. They pass quickly - in a maximum of 10 days.

But in the remaining cases, everything is much more serious. During the week, the following are added to the cold symptoms:

• loss of reflexes;
• severe muscle pain;
• flaccid paralysis (very strong relaxation of the limbs).

Poliomyelitis can also lead to disability if paralysis develops into an irreversible form: this happensPolio about one in 200. The worst thing is if the virus hits the respiratory system: muscle paralysis in this case will be fatal.

What stopped the spread

There is no cure for polio. But there is an effective vaccine. Its first version, based on the killed viruses, was developed byPolio vaccine American scientist Jonas Salk in 1952. He checked the safety of the vaccination on his own family: his wife, children and personally on himself. A little later, the second, oral version of the vaccine, based on live, but weakened viruses, was developed by the American Albert Seibin. In the USSR, based on the discovery of Seibin, they also createdPolio his own: its authors were Mikhail Chumakov and Anatoly Smorodintsev.

Mass vaccination helped end the widespread polio disease as early as the 1960s. Now, according to WHO, more than 80% of the territories on the planet have been liberated.Polio from the virus. However, cases of infection still occur.Link, more commonly in Africa and parts of Asia.

6. Plague

Until the 20th century, people died from the plaguePlague disease from 96 to 100% infected. Plague has many forms, but the most common are bubonic, septic, and pulmonary. They are caused by one bacterium - the plague bacillus. Fleas and rodents carry it.

Symptoms

The plague has different Plague. With bubonic, the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits and neck are inflamed. They become sensitive and hard to the touch, and are the size of a hen's egg. Also, bubonic plague is accompanied by muscle pain, headache, weakness, fever and chills.

Pneumonic plague affects the lungs. It is considered the most dangerous type of disease, as it is easily transmitted from person to person. The patient is constantly coughing up bloody sputum, it is hard for him to breathe, he is constantly nauseous, the temperature rises, his head and chest hurts. Pneumonic plague progresses rapidly and can be fatal within two days of infection.

With septic plague, the circulatory system takes the hit. Fever, chills and weakness are also observed here, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain, bleeding from the nose, mouth, rectum, subcutaneous hemorrhage, gangrene and shock are added to them.

What stopped the spread

Now less than 5,000 people a year are infected with plague, and the death rate has dropped to 5-10%. The sick are treatedPlague antibiotics and anti-plague serum. But it is possible to get rid of the plague only in the early stages, as the disease progresses rapidly.
In any case, experts believePlague diseasethat the plague epidemic is unlikely to recur. This requires not only a new tenacious form of bacteria, but also reduced immunity in most of the world's population.

7. Measles

A very contagious and dangerous acute infectious disease that is transmitted by airborne droplets. Until the second half of the 20th century, measles wasHistory of measles an almost obligatory disease that people suffered before reaching the age of 15. Every 2-3 years, a measles epidemic was recorded in the world, and every year they died from it.Measles about 2.6 million people.

Symptoms

The disease developsMeasles in several stages. The first lasts 10 to 14 days and is asymptomatic. The second lasts two or three days, at this time there is a slight increase in temperature, cough, runny nose, sore throat, conjunctivitis.

After that, the third stage begins, the most active. A rash of small, sometimes raised, red spots appears. Together with this, the temperature rises, sometimes the heat reaches 40 degrees. After the rash begins to recede. Fever and respiratory tract damage can be fatal.

Sometimes measles causes complications: ear infection, bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, encephalitis. And if a pregnant woman becomes infected with measles - low birth weight, premature birth or even death during childbirth.

What stopped the spread

In 1963, microbiologist Maurice Hilleman developedMeasles: information about the disease and vaccines vaccine. Then it was transformed into an MMR vaccine, which helps to develop immunity not only to measles, but also to rubella and mumps. In Russia, it is included in the list of mandatoryNational vaccination calendar preventive vaccinations. In 2017, measles vaccine received during the first year of lifeMeasles 85% of children around the world.

But in 2018, WHO posted unpleasant statistics: measles died in a yearWorldwide spike in measles deaths 140,000 140 thousand people. Most of them lived in developing countries, but there were also cases in developed countries. In the latter, the problem arose due to the increased frequency of refusals to vaccinate and, at the same time, a decrease in herd immunity.

8. Whooping cough

Whooping cough got its name because of the sound that the sick make: inhalation after a coughing fit is accompanied by a high cry. The disease is transmitted by airborne droplets, and the bacterium Borde-Zhangu causes it. You can get whooping cough at any age, but more often children under two years old suffer from it. For babies, this disease can become fatal: in 2014, the world was recordedWhooping cough 160,700 pertussis deaths.

Symptoms

Whooping cough exhibitsWhooping cough yourself a week or 10 days after infection. At first, the symptoms resemble a common cold: runny nose, redness of the eyes, fever, cough. Over the next two weeks, they intensify. Sputum builds up in the airways, making coughs impossible to control. Sometimes, due to severe spasms, the face begins to turn red or blue, severe weakness and vomiting appear. In children under one year old mayPertussis stop breathing, and in adults, from the intensity of coughing, ribs break.

What stopped the spread

The first licensed pertussis vaccine arrivesHistoric Dates and Events Related to Vaccines and Immunization in 1949. It is now included in immunization programs in all countries of the world. In Russia, whooping cough is vaccinatedNational vaccination calendar three times during the first year of life and again at 18 months. Although people continue to get sick, the mandatory vaccination has significantly reduced the statistics. So, until the 1950s in England and Wales, whooping cough fell ill every yearPertussis (Whooping Cough) more than 100,000 people, and in 2011 - only about 800.

9. Hepatitis A and B

Hepatitis A virus can be contracted through contaminated food or water, or through contact with an infected person. By itself, hepatitis A rarely causesHepatitis A to death (in 0.5% of cases), but if a person already has liver problems, he can develop into fulminant hepatitis, which has high mortality rates.

Hepatitis B is much more dangerous. Firstly, it can develop into chronic, and secondly, the mortality rate from it is higher, for example, in 2019, the world died from hepatitis BHepatitis B 820,000 people. The virus is transmitted through blood and other biological fluids. You can get infected during sexual intercourse, with injections with non-sterile needles, through a cut. And most often it is transmitted perinatally from mother to child.

Symptoms

Hepatitis A does not manifest itself for several weeks after entering the body. And then there areHepatitis A symptoms of varying severity:

• high temperature;
• weakness;
• loss of appetite;
• nausea and diarrhea;
• discomfort in the abdomen;
• darkening of urine;
• joint pain;
• severe itching;
• jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes).

Hepatitis B has symptomsHepatitis B similar, but the incubation period is longer - from one to four months.

What stopped the spread

The hepatitis A vaccine appeared in 1995, now there are several of them. Vaccination allowsHepatitis A develop immunity for 5-8 years. It was introduced in 34 countries of the worldHepatitis A in the vaccination calendar, but only for children at risk. The main way to contain the disease is to provide the population with clean drinking water and personal hygiene. Therefore, hepatitis A is still a problem in developing countries with poor sanitation.

First Hepatitis B Vaccine AppearsA Historical Perspective on Evidence-Based Immunology in 1981. Now there are several of them and they are of two types: from blood plasma and recombinant vaccines. In many countries, including RussiaNational vaccination calendar, the hepatitis B vaccine is included in the list of mandatory preventive vaccinations. Moreover, the first dose is given to babies on the first day after birth. The vaccine allowsHepatitis B vaccines create a strong protective level of antibodies. They appear in 95% of vaccinated children and young people, about 90% - among people receiving the first dose of the vaccine after 40 years, and in 65-75% - among the elderly.