A NEW MEDICAL THEORY PROPOUNDED BY E. D. SPERANKIY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310534-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 534
• Publication Date: May 26, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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ENV
FOREIGN UCL'JMEkTS OR i .a" :iJ 5,1CiADCASTS
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Medical - Theory of infectious diseases
HOW
PUBLISHED Weekly newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED Feb - Apr 1950
LANGUAGE
THIS DOCUNINT CONTAINS INPONNATION APPICTINS THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
or THE YNITID STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT IO
Y. S. C.. Sf AND SH.AD AMINDDD. ITS TRANSMISSION ON THE NITILATIOM
OP ITS CO NTSNTf IN ANT MAMNIR TO AN IS PIGEON IS PRO.
NINIT[D ST LAW. I[PN000CTION OF THIS PORN IS PRONINITID.
REPORT
CD NO.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
DATE DIST. 9 May 1950
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMrNT TO
REPORT
SOURCE Meditsinskiy Rabotnik, Feb - Apr 1950.
L NEW MEDICAL THEORY PROPOUNDED BY E. D. SPERANSKIY
A new medical theory propounded by E.D. Speranskiy has been discussed in
the USSR and has attracted considerable attention. According to a current dis-
cussion carried on in the February to April issues df?Meditsinskiy Rabotnik,
Speranskiy postulates that a pathological process in infective diseases may de-
velop without the participation of its primary causative factor; i.e., the
microorganism, virus, or other pathological irritant. According to Speranskiy,
pathological processes such as inflammation, degeneration, atrophy, and hyper-
tonia may develop as a result of experimental nervous irritation. A neurogenic
irritation which was initially caused by an infective agent may therefore de-
velop and persist, causing a pathological condition in the organism,even in
cases where the specific irritant (microorganism, virus, or toxin) is no longer
present. Quinine and penicillin cure infective diseases by virtue of their
effect on the nerves rather than any specific etiotropic action. ("The
Teaching of I. P. Pavlov and Medical Sciences' by S. Sarkisov, Academician.
Secretary, Academy of Medical Sciences USSR, Meditsinskiy Rabotnik, 9 Feb-
ruary 1950.)
From a theoretical point of view, this new medical theory has been received
favorably by officials representing the Ministry of Health USSR. The Minister of
Health, E. I. Smirnov, at the Third All-Union Conference of Leading Workers of
the Medical Faculties of Universities, entered the discussion and defended Sarki-
sov against proponents of the classical theory of medicine. He pointed out that
Speranskiy's theory is in complete agreement with dialectic principles and justi-
fiable in its objection to Virchow's interpretation of the organism as a complex
of independent cells and organs. He went on to say:
Infection is not the all-important thing, as any physician who has identi-
fied gas bacillus in war wounded soldiers, but found no trace of gas gangrene,
may testify. In response to the question as to whether. the Licrobe is the
causative., factor of the- disease, a negative answer must be given, even though
the disease does not occur without the microbe. Many-new things arise in medi-
cine; adherence to an old theory often becomes unjustified. For instance, we
have been able to establish recently that many vaccines against diseases, con-
trary to accepted opinion, really contain microorganisms which have not been
killed and are capable .of prdpagation, (Meditsinskiy Rabotnik, 6 April 1950).
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Dr M. Durmish'yan made the f6.iov-_ng observations:
An organism must be regarded as a un.ty which is affected and influenced as
a whole by external conditions. It is affected by these conditions through the
nervous system. The chemotherapeutic agents introduced into the organism trans-
fer their action through reflexes in such a manner that the life and multiplica-
tion of microbes becomes impossible. For instance, Speranskiy, by producing a
bismuth embolus within the "yoke" vein, was able to prevent tuberculosis in rab-
bits. Bismuth in this case acted only as an irritant of the nerve-receptor ap-
paratus and increased the resistance of the organism to tuberculosis bacilli by
reflex action in this manner. ("National Physiology in Opposition to Cell Path-
ology," by Dr M. Durmish'yan, Ieditsinskiy Rabotnik, 30 March l950).
Among the nine articles published in Meditsinskiy Rabotnik, several emphat-
ically take issue with the new theory. This-includes'on-by -A: Myasnikov, Act-
ing Member, Academy of Medical Sciences USSR. In an article in the 16 March 1950
Meditsinskiy Rabotnik, entitled "Nervism and Soviet Therapy" (nervism being the
name of the new theory proposed by Speranskiy), Dr Myasnikov states that vita-
mins, hormones, and chemotherapeutics may act through the nervous system, but
probably do not, because otherwise biochemical specificity (such as that shown
by cholesterol in producing arteriosclerosis) remains unexplained.
Dr Iyasnikov continues: If Soviet medicine rejects Virchow's concept and
regards the organism as a whole, it must consider the interdependence of all
tissues and not ascribe any special significance to the nervous system. Sulfa
drugs and penicillin very effectively cure pneumonia. There is hardly a physi-
cian who would refuse to use these drugs in favor of thombic novocain therapy
in the back as A. D. Speranskiy has proposed only recently. Methods of treating
septic conditions by a nerve block proved unsuccessful. The neurotropic methods
of Sperunsitiy must be regarded as forms of nonspecific therapy similar to pro-
tein therapy or physiotherapy. Nonspecific therapy may supplement, but never
replace, treatment with antibiotics, vitamins, or hormones.
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