History of Military Contributions to the Creation of Vaccine-Serum Preparations Against Anthrax

Vaccination in combination with chemotherapeutic agents play an important role in the complex of measures aimed at combating anthrax. However, the role of Russian military scientists in the development of means and methods of specific biological protection against anthrax is not fully covered in scientific literature. The aim of the article is to summarize the contribution of Russian military scientists to the creation of vaccine-serum preparations against anthrax. In the 1940–1980s in the branches of the Federal State Budgetary Establishment «48 Central Research Institute» of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, live and combined anthrax vaccines have been created. Currently, these branches are located in the cities of Kirov and Yekaterinburg. In 1998, military researchers of these branches obtained a vaccine strain STI-PR-4 resistant to a number of antibiotics. On the basis of this strain, the combined dry anthrax vaccine was developed, which can be used in foci of biological infection together with the main chemotherapeutic drugs. In 1996–1998 specialists of the branch (Kirov), together with the Oryol biofactory, created a new production line for the production of heterologous (horse) anti-anthrax immunoglobulin, an emergency specific protection against the anthrax pathogen. The improvement of this drug was completed by the development of the laboratory technology for obtaining F(ab')₂ fragments, which can be used for emergency specific prophylaxis and treatment of anthrax. The task of developing a new anti-anthrax human immunoglobulin for intravenous administration was successfully solved in 2004 by scientists of the branch (Kirov) together with the Federal State Institution «Kirov Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion of Roszdrav» within the framework of the Federal Target Program. In 2020, employees of the branch (Kirov) developed a mass immunization method using oral anthrax vaccine. The ongoing advanced research on the creation of new vaccine-serum preparations, technologies for their production, methods of mass vaccination have created a serious scientific base, which will make it possible in the future to protect the population and personnel of the Armed Forces of our country from the outbreaks of anthrax and acts of biological terrorism.

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