The epidemic of smallpox in Northeastern Siberia and the first attempts to prevent it

Abstract

Smallpox is one of the most dangerous human infectious diseases in the world, which claimed an estimated half a billion lives [1]. Smallpox reached the territory of Northeastern Siberia in the middle of the 17th century. It was spread by people from the European part of the Russian Empire. The devastating epidemics of smallpox led to the verge of extinction of entire tribal communities and small ethnic groups, especially in the Arctic. The article analyzes literary and archival materials on the history of smallpox and folk remedies used for the prevention of smallpox in the territory of Northeastern Siberia, particularly in Yakutia.

Keywords

• smallpox
• epidemics
• vaccination against smallpox
• siberia
• northeast siberia
• the history of smallpox
• folk remedies
• kiibes
• otosut.