Living with plague: Lessons from the Soviet Union’s antiplague system

Abstract

Zoonoses, such as plague, are primarily animal diseases that spill over into human populations. While the goal of eradicating such diseases is enticing, historical experience validates abandoning eradication in favor of ecologically based control strategies (which reduce morbidity and mortality to a locally accepted risk level). During the 20th century, one of the most extensive plague-eradication efforts in recorded history was undertaken to enable large-scale changes in land use in the former Soviet Union (including vast areas of central Asia). Despite expending tremendous resources in its attempt to eradicate plague, the Soviet antiplague response gradually abandoned the goal of eradication in favor of plague control linked with developing basic knowledge of plague ecology. Drawing from this experience, we combine new gray-literature sources, historical and recent research, and fieldwork to outline best practices for the control of spillover from zoonoses while minimally disrupting wildlife ecosystems, and we briefly compare the Soviet case with that of endemic plague in the western United States. We argue for the allocation of sufficient resources to maintain ongoing local surveillance, education, and targeted control measures; to incorporate novel technologies selectively; and to use ecological research to inform developing landscape-based models for transmission interruption. We conclude that living with emergent and reemergent zoonotic diseases—switching to control—opens wider possibilities for interrupting spillover while preserving natural ecosystems, encouraging adaptation to local conditions, and using technological tools judiciously and in a cost-effective way.

The next chapter of human–plague science

“…In PNAS, Jones et al (1) provide an expert history of human-plague interactions across central Asia, and we support their thesis that zoonotic systems are best regulated using "control" rather than "eradication" strategies. Nonetheless, a control strategy is incomplete if it fails to acknowledge the critical role that modern biospecimen infrastructure plays in revealing historic and ongoing oscillations of host-pathogen systems.…”

History of the Plague: An Ancient Pandemic for the Age of COVID-19

“…Because this clinical subtype is specifically aerosolized, pneumonic plague could be used for potential bioterrorist attacks. 5,6,26 Its initially nonspecific, flu-like symptoms include sudden onset of high fevers and dyspnea within 4 days of plague exposure, progressing quickly to a purulent, frothy, or ultimately bloody cough. [21][22][23] Chest X-ray for primary pneumonic plague may show lobar pneumonia, which spreads rapidly throughout the lungs.…”

“…Poisons were placed manually into thousands of rodent burrows, pesticides like DDT were widely deployed to kill plague hosts, and potential mammalian carriers were destroyed. 26 Although such laborious efforts decreased cases, the plague was never fully eliminated. The potential toxicity to humans and the native ecosystem from insecticides promoted a shift toward vector control (not eradication) and epidemiological sampling to monitor the presence of Y. pestis in local rodent populations.…”

“…The potential toxicity to humans and the native ecosystem from insecticides promoted a shift toward vector control (not eradication) and epidemiological sampling to monitor the presence of Y. pestis in local rodent populations. [4][5][6]26 Current programs balance ongoing surveillance among plague vectors with protecting the natural environment as a multipronged approach toward plague containment. [4][5][6]26…”

Circulation of Yersinia pestis in the Volga-Ural Sandy Focus: Spatiotemporal Analysis

“…Firstly, the epidemiological surveillance of plague should be strengthened significantly. Secondly, it is necessary to decipher the mechanisms involved in activating the natural foci of this highly dangerous infection on the plague-enzootic transboundary territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan [14][15][16].…”