Plague Fort:
 a special laboratory of IEM

The plague pathogen was discovered in 1894 by  A.E.J.Yersin . England and France were the only countries where the studies of  plague were carried out at that time, and the government of Russia  created a special body  " Special Commission for the prevention of plague and struggle with it in case of its spread in Russia " - so called COMOCHUM.

Prince Alexander Oldenburgsky was appointed chairman of the commission  on January 11, 1897.  Minister of the finance S.U.Vitte was appointed  his  assistant on financial questions; and the assistant on scientific questions - A.A.Vladimirov, head of the Epizootology department of IEM , where researches on  plague and anti-plague preparations were in progress. Besides at the Institute the courses for the doctors wishing to learn more about this infection were opened. Thus, the Institute of Experimental Medicine became a base for creation of COMOCHUM.

A.Oldenburgsky started to look for an  isolated place, possibly remoted from city, to house the new laboratory. Soon such a place was found  -- " the Emperor Alexander I "fort.

The history of the fort began in 1838, when under the order of Nikolai I, the engineer - colonel Van der Veide  began constructing a new defence structure in the Gulf of Finland. The fort was opened on  July 27, 1845, and  became an insuperable barrier for any enemy fleet. By the end of the 19th century the "Alexander I"  fort had lost its significance  because of rapid progress in development of arms, and was " written off."

On January 26, 1897 Prince Oldenburgsky  received the consent of  military minister and commandant of the Kronstadt fortress, and the fort was affiliated with the Institute to house the COMOCHUM laboratories. On May 13, 1898 the management of laboratory on the fort was entrusted to the veterinary doctor M.G.Tartakovsky, assistant of the manager of Epizootology department of IEM.

Isolated from the external world, the place ideally suited for dangerous works. Admission to the fort was strictly limited, the connection with Kronstadt and Lisii Nos was arranged by a  by a small ferry boat  "Microb", belonging to IEM.

The laboratory had two branches: infectious and non-contagious, and also premises for the doctors and staff and smart rooms for the visitors and for holding conferences. (The laboratory was visited by eminent guests and students  of the Institute courses on bacteriology.)
In the non-contagious branch there was a whole menagerie of lab animals:  monkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, reindeers... But the main laboratory animal was the horse. In the stables more than 16 horses were kept, some of  them  developing anti-plague serum for years. 
Part of the internal court yard of the fortress was occupied  by a small running place for horses, and  there was a special lift - lift for one horse.

A certain schedule of a day was followed in the fort. The strict security measures were observed, the staff  in infectious branch worked in gummed raincoats atop of dressing gowns, in the same trousers, in high rubber galoshes. As a disinfectant  sublimate was used.

The laboratory was perfectly equipped. The household conditions were also quite good: each member had a separate  room, library and billiards were available.

There was a substantial museum in the fort, which contained rich  scientific materials, mainly holding preparations of the injured bodies and a collection of the parasites of animals - carriers of infection. 

The following figures testify to the scale of works on manufacturing of various sera and vaccines in the "special  laboratory" of the Institute: for 25 years 1103139 bottles of sera (streptococcal, staphylococcal, tetanus and scarlet fever)  were made and  released there. Vaccines against  typhus were made at the rate for 1230260 patients. Protective vaccine against plague - 4795384 ccm., anti-plague serum  - 2343530 ccm.; anti-cholera vaccine - 1999097 ccm., anti-cholera serum  - 1156170 ccm. It has allowed to hold up a number of epidemics of  cholera, classic typhus and relapsing fever, practically all numerous outbreaks of  plague in the Volga area  and Transcaucasian areas, epidemic in Odessa and in the Far East of Russia.

Vaccines and sera  made in the fort were also delivered abroad, and for lower prices than production of Pasteur institute in Paris and Bombay.

In fort's casemates several dozen of men devoted to science,  were engaged in fatally dangerous work for more than 20 years, in direct contact with pathogens of such terrible infections as plague, cholera, anthrax etc. Unfortunately, not all the documents of the fort have reached up to now and we can not name all the members of the laboratory, only some of them: D.K.Zabolotni, A.A.Vladimirov, V.I. Turchaninov-Vizhnikevich, M.G.Tartakovski, N.M.Berestnev, I.Z.Shurupov, A.I.Bernikov, M.F.Shraiber, A.N.Cherventsov, V.I.Isaev.

All safety measures  were  unfortunately insufficient, " the black death " twice raged out in the fort, in 1904 and 1907. News about death of V.I.Turchaninov-Vizhnikevich and M.F.Shraiber spread all over Russia. The bodies of the lost scientists were burnt in the fort incinerator, and ashes bequeathed  to the Institute. One urn with ashes is stored in the building of scientific library of IEM.

In 1917  the laboratory was reorganized into anti-plague institute "Microb" in the city of Saratov, and then, in 1923, the Center of struggle with  plague in the southeast of Russia was organized,  nearer to epidemic centers. In 70-s  of the  20th century  6 institutes of the kind existed in different cities of Russia, and 29 anti-plague stations.

Some part of the equipment from the fort remained in the Institute of Experimental Medicine, part of the equipment and museum materials   were  transferred to the Institute of Epidemiology and microbiology named after Pasteur in St-Petersburg.