The Sanitary and Epidemiological Situation and the Fight Against Unsanitary Conditions in Vladivostok in the Last Quarter of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries

This article is devoted to the sanitary and epidemiological situation and the fight against unsanitary conditions on the Far East in the last quarter of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing on a wide range of sources, many of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the author identifies significant factors in the deteriorating sanitary and epidemiological situation and traces the development of sanitary supervision in Vladivostok, as well as changes and innovations in urban sanitation and sewerage practices in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Against the backdrop of the spread of alimentary infections and periodic cholera and plague epidemics from neighboring Asian countries, a sanitary supervision system gradually emerged in Far Eastern cities. This system included city, municipal, and sanitary doctors, sanitary executive commissions, trustees, and supervisors. Beginning in the mid-1880s, a system for removing sewage and garbage from Vladivostok developed. Although constantly improved, it never kept pace with the needs of the rapidly growing city. Despite advances in sanitary inspections, sanitation, and waste disposal, doctors and police officers continued to report unsanitary conditions in many homes and streets across the city year after year. The medical community cited the citys rapidly growing population, the overcrowding and poverty of the vast number of Asian migrants with their unique attitude toward cleanliness, the large proportion of transient and low-income residents, and the indifference of most residents to maintaining the cleanliness of their streets and property as the main factors contributing to the unsanitary conditions.