Combating Tuberculosis in Leningrad in the 1940s

The article analyzes the incidence of tuberculosis and the fight against it in Leningrad in the 1940s. The study is based on office documents and statistical materials from the funds of the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg (fund 7384 — St. Petersburg City Council of People’s Deputies and Fund 9156 — Health Committee of the Administration of St. Petersburg) and the Central State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation of St. Petersburg (fund 295 — Scientific Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology). The dynamics of morbidity and mortality are given, the measures of the authorities are analyzed (regulation of the hospital, dispensary and sanatorium network, food supply of patients). The author concludes that during the siege years the epidemic spread of tuberculosis was facilitated not only by objective factors (poor living conditions of the population, hunger and vitamin deficiency, lack of qualified medical personnel), but also by organizational miscalculations of city health authorities and the focus of the authorities and doctors on the prevention of gastrointestinal-intestinal infections. The wave of morbidity was brought down in 1943, but as the evacuees and demobilized from the front returned to the city, tuberculosis again began to acquire the character of an epidemic. The system of post-war measures to combat tuberculosis included early detection of diseases, vaccinations, treatment and prophylactic activities, and health education. The collective efforts of epidemiologists, phthisiatricians and the sanitary inspection managed to somewhat reduce the severity of the problem, but financing of medicine on a leftover basis and the lack of a sufficient number of effective drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis reduced the effectiveness of doctors.