Throughout history, cholera has been a deadly infectious disease that has caused devastating outbreaks. It is well-known for its severe symptoms and quick spread, which can result in dehydration and even death if left untreated. One such outbreak that threatened thousands of people’s lives and health swept through the USSR in the 1970s.
The Soviet Union was facing a significant challenge at the time in trying to stop the spread of cholera. However, the epidemic was ultimately contained thanks to prompt government intervention, a variety of public health initiatives, and medical advancements. The account of how this was accomplished teaches important lessons about the role that medical response, public awareness, and coordination play in handling crises of this nature.
The definition of cholera, its transmission mechanisms, and the measures implemented to contain the 1970 outbreak in the USSR are all covered in this article. It is a fantastic illustration of how a whole country banded together to combat a threat to public health.
| Topic | Description |
| Cholera | A dangerous infection caused by contaminated water or food, leading to severe dehydration and diarrhea. |
| 1970 USSR Epidemic | An outbreak of cholera that spread across the Soviet Union, affecting several regions and causing public health concerns. |
| Defeating the Epidemic | The USSR used mass vaccination, strict quarantine measures, and improved sanitation to quickly control and stop the spread of the disease. |
| Legacy | The successful response became a model for handling future epidemics, showing the importance of rapid public health intervention. |
- Ways of infection with cholera and its symptoms
- Symptoms of cholera
- The spread of cholera in the USSR in 1970
- Measures to combat the epidemic and the response to them
- Beginning of the epidemic
- Quarantine and observation
- "Human factor"
- And how are things with cholera now?
- Video on the topic
- Plague, cholera and smallpox | How dangerous infections were fought in the USSR
- Your Honor, Mrs. Cholera: Epidemics of 1970 and 1994 | Crimean Evening
- What is CHOLERA. Symptoms and treatment of cholera in adults and children. Cholera Epidemic
- Cholera – [History of Medicine]
Ways of infection with cholera and its symptoms
The bacteria Vibrio cholerae is the cause of the extremely contagious disease cholera. Usually, tainted food or water is how it enters the human body. The areas with the highest risk of cholera outbreaks are those with poor beach and clean water access.
Mucous cells secrete more sodium, potassium, and chlorides as a result of the toxin secreted by cholera vibrios. This causes the intestines’ contents to get more salted and starts to "pull" water out of every cell in the body. Severe diarrhea results from this, rapidly depleting the body of water and salts.
Symptoms of cholera
The majority of people infected with cholera vibrio are asymptomatic carriers of the infection. For seven to fourteen days, those who are infected can spread the bacteria to others by excreting it in their feces, which poses a risk. A cholera outbreak poses a particular risk to the elderly, children, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses.
Some individuals experience symptoms 1–5 days following exposure to the cholera virus. The subsequent signs and symptoms:
- Nausea and exhausting vomit, which occurs at the beginning of the disease and can last hours.
- Diarrhea 15 – 20 times a day. It occurs suddenly, at the same time very liquid feces, in color resemble water in which rice washed.
Some people have mild symptoms that make it challenging to differentiate them from other intestinal infections.
Dehydration, however, sets in a few hours after the onset of the initial symptoms in 10% of those who are infected quickly. Three people may pass away in a 12-hour period due to the severity of the condition!
Fatigue, sunken eyes, dry mouth, extreme thirst, dry skin, decreased or absent urine production, low blood pressure, and irregular heartbeat are all signs of dehydration. These patients need to be admitted to the hospital right away so that intravenous fluids can be given and maybe antibiotics.
Most people agree that cholera is a disease that can be easily cured. Treatment reduces the fatality rate to 1% to 2%. Within three to six days of the illness starting, mild cases of cholera go away on their own, and the bacteria continue to be eliminated from the body for a further two weeks. When someone with severe cholera receives the right care, the symptoms also go away fast.
To stop the spread of cholera, all patients who have cases of the illness documented are segregated until they have fully recovered, which should take at least two weeks.
A dangerous bacterial infection called cholera can spread through tainted food and water, leading to severe diarrhea and dehydration. The USSR experienced a cholera outbreak in 1970, but it was quickly contained by stringent public health measures like mass immunization, quarantine, and access to clean water. The coordinated actions of the government and medical advancements were crucial in containing the outbreak and sparing millions of people from the illness.
The spread of cholera in the USSR in 1970
In actuality, a different cholera pandemic contributed to the 1970 cholera epidemic, which was the biggest in the USSR. At that time, cholera was present in many nations, including those that shared borders with the Soviet Union, such as Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the infection did not quickly spread throughout the USSR because of the "iron curtain," or the restricted amount of interactions with citizens of other nations.
In Batumi, the first cholera cases were reported in the middle of July 1970. One of the 17 persons who received a diagnosis for this illness passed away almost instantly after being admitted to the hospital.
On July 25, cholera was discovered in the Astrakhan region. Presumably, it penetrated there via the Caspian Sea from northern Iran.
From Astrakhan, cholera spread upstream the Volga by ships carrying agricultural products, especially since at that time Volga ships dumped sewage directly into the river. At the end of July, isolated cases of cholera were discovered in the Volgograd and Saratov regions, and in August – in the Kuibyshev, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm regions, in the Caspian ports of Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. 30 cases were detected in Volgograd, 14 in Uman, and 10 in Novorossiysk 13, Makhachkala – 12, Tiraspol – 8, Saratov and Kirov – 6 each, Kuibyshev – 5, Chisinau – 4. Isolated cases of the disease were recorded in Moscow, Leningrad, Perm and a dozen other cities.
In the Astrakhan region, 1,270 cases were reported during the summer, with 35 deaths; by October, 2,390 cases remained until the epidemic’s conclusion. September or August marked the end of outbreaks in the remaining parts of the Volga and Caspian regions.
Between August 2 and September 9, 1970, in Odessa, 126 people became ill, seven of whom passed away. A 73-year-old sea pier watchman was the first person in Kerch to pass away from cholera on August 7. Six people died in this city in the weeks that followed, with 158 cases being reported.
Approximately 1.5 million people visited Crimea on vouchers every year at that time, and an additional 3 million "savages," or independent travelers, made the trip.
The Soviet media did not report on cholera outbreaks for a very long time; they only started to do so after the disease’s incidence started to decline.
The summertime appearance in 1970. The World Health Organization was notified by the first three cholera foci (Batumi, Odessa, and Astrakhan) that the seventh cholera pandemic (which started in 1961) had reached USSR territory.
"The cities of Astrakhan, Odessa, and Kerch were placed under full quarantine.
Measures to combat the epidemic and the response to them
Beginning of the epidemic
Anti-epidemic measures were initiated in Odessa following the deployment of a headquarters following the first fatal case on August 3.
During the initial days, a large number of visitors to the seaside departed the city.
"If panic had not broken out in the early days, there would have been a significant decrease in the number of cholera foci and sick individuals.
Travelers’ memories state that they were informed over a megaphone that there was cholera in Odessa while they were on vacation. Quickly depart from the city." It’s evident that large crowds of people hurried to the airport and train stations. Approximately 70 planes and over thirty trains were sent in a short time. Travelers returned home with infections from their travels to various cities.
To combat the epidemic, the All-Union Emergency Anti-Epidemic Commission (VChPK) was created under the USSR Ministry of Health, which had very broad powers. Leading medical scientists were involved in developing measures to combat the epidemic. Despite the fact that the epidemic was not made public, the entire Soviet Union was involved in the fight against it to one degree or another.
In addition to the members of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, other departments and organizations were involved if necessary: the USSR Prosecutor"s Office, the Ministries of Trade, Communications, Fisheries, Automobile Industry, Foreign Trade, Finance; Intourist, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, the People"s Control Committee, the Ministry of Defense and the border troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs..
During an All-Russian Extraordinary Commission meeting, it was decided to call back all medical staff from their vacation and assign students to work against the epidemic by going house to house and identifying patients who had acute intestinal diseases and anyone who had come into contact with them.
During the rounds, 7,000 Red Cross volunteers, 4,500 first responders, and 2,500 medical professionals participated. There were 200 newly opened immunization locations. There had been 147268 vaccinations by the middle of August.
Ten bacteriological labs were operational, nearly two hundred thousand people were examined, and approximately one million people were given tetracycline.
Quarantine and observation
Odessa was placed under quarantine on August 6.
Kerch, which had thirty thousand tourists and one hundred thousand residents, was also placed under quarantine on August 10. Now, entry was restricted to those with a special pass and those who had taken part in anti-epidemic measures.
Additionally, passes that were only granted following observation—that is, a minimum of five days spent in specially designed medical facilities (observatories) under the close supervision of physicians—became necessary in order to leave the city.
Trains, boarding homes, technical schools, pioneer camps, and school buildings were all used as observation centers. Black Sea Shipping Company sea vessels, including cozy cruise ships, were also utilized as observatories in Odessa.
The observatories were used to temporarily separate people who did not exhibit overt symptoms of the illness but might have been exposed to the cholera virus from being in a contaminated area. About 180,000 people were observed overall in the USSR during the 1970 outbreak.
After being observed, those who departed Crimea by car were given fuel and water to drink, had their wheels treated with a special solution, and had their fruits and vegetables confiscated. Ten more trains, sixteen passenger planes, and numerous buses were brought in to remove the remainder.
Cruise ship calls were canceled throughout Crimea, and newly arrived guests with vouchers to health resorts, tourist destinations, and pioneer camps—including Artek—were turned away.
The Crimean borders were guarded by specially stationed traffic police posts, and cars attempting to enter were turned away. Tickets for trains and planes headed toward Crimea were first offered exclusively with a Crimean registration.
To maintain quarantine, a total of 9400 soldiers, 26 helicopters, and 22 patrol boats were sent to Crimea; 5,000 soldiers, 9 boats, and 5 helicopters were sent to Odessa; 3017 soldiers, boats, and helicopters were sent to Astrakhan. Initially, 28 patrol posts were established around the Kerch quarantine zone; however, their count had to be raised to 96.
If necessary, the police and military forced people who disobeyed medical staff’ orders to be hospitalized or placed under observation.
"Human factor"
But not everyone freaked out when the infection threat was revealed. Local officials, including the first secretary of the city party committee, personally strolled along public city beaches in early August in Yalta (where no cases of the disease had yet been reported!). They announced over a megaphone about the cholera outbreak in the Black Sea and urged tourists to leave the city immediately. There were warning signs posted and the beach entrances were closed.
However, nobody seemed to be in a rush to leave! Those apprehended on the beaches told the authorities that they would stay by the water until the end of their vacation because they had paid for their travel and lodging.
Visitors attempted in large numbers to flee the afflicted area when the peninsula was declared completely quarantined. In Kerch, groups of visitors gathered at the city party committee and district executive committees, requesting to be sent home.
The USSR’s Council of Ministers issued an order on August 23 mandating that all individuals under quarantine receive paid extended vacations and business trips.
In other cities, in the event of lone cases of the illness, quarantine was not implemented; instead, medical professionals confined the ill individual and his companions to total seclusion.
There were roughly 200 recorded attempts to cross the Kerch quarantine line, all of which were thwarted by security personnel. Fishing boats were used to transport locals from Odessa living in estuaries out of the quarantine zone in exchange for 25 rubles.
Beginning in September, when up to 1,500 non-residents were released from the city every day, the planned evacuation of those who had successfully passed observation from Kerch was put into action. The quarantine in Kerch, Astrakhan, and Odessa was lifted by the end of September.
In November 1970, the cholera pandemic in the USSR came to an end. There haven’t been any significant outbreaks in the nation since then.
However, more than 20 local outbreaks of the disease were reported in Ukraine over the course of the following 30 years. Ten Crimean citizens perished from cholera in 1994–1995; 193 cases were reported.
And how are things with cholera now?
The Tambov region’s regional department of Rospotrebnadzor reported on July 20, 2023, that a cholera patient had been reported. He took a plane from another country to Russia. Later, a second patient who was traveling on the same plane as the first sick person was brought to the hospital with a suspected case of cholera. This is the main route via which cholera enters the nation. The cholera pathogen spreads much more quickly in the summer when large numbers of people swim in open water.
Furthermore, Russia shares a border with the Kakhovka Reservoir artificial disaster zone. The Republic of Adygea’s Rospotrebnadzor Administration has announced that cholera pathogens will prevent Odessa region residents from swimming or fishing in the Black Sea this summer. Additionally, the Danube and the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky estuary have been reported to harbor Cholera vibrios.
Still, doctors feel that there’s no need to worry right now. Overall, the global effort to combat cholera and other intestinal illnesses is becoming more and more successful. Isolated cases of the illness exist. The most important thing is to pay attention.
Cholera is a dangerous disease, but with good hygiene, prompt medical attention, and public health measures, its spread can be effectively controlled. The Soviet cholera outbreak of 1970 demonstrated how a planned reaction can avert a disaster.
The prompt action of the government, in conjunction with the commitment of medical professionals and scientists, proved instrumental in containing the outbreak. Before it could cause extensive destruction, the spread of cholera was stopped by separating patients, enhancing sanitation, and offering vaccinations.
This historical occurrence serves as a reminder of the importance of readiness and alertness in handling public health emergencies. Recalling the past makes it possible to respond swiftly and efficiently to similar outbreaks in the future.
