Gregory Minh (; September 7, 1836 – December 12, 1896 in

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

), was a Russian

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone ...

, and

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

. He was a professor at the Department of Pathological Anatomy at the University of St. Vladimir in Kiev.

Biography

Educated at the grammar school in Saratov and

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, Minh then spent several years as an intern at the therapeutic clinic of Professor Zakharyin. As a young doctor studying

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

's effects, he injected himself with typhoid blood, thus contracting the disease and nearly died from its complications. Between 1863 and 1865, he traveled to Germany to study pathological anatomy. In 1876, he took the chair as director of

pathological anatomy Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross examination, macroscopic, Histopathology, microscopic, biochemical, immu ...

at the

University of Kiev The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

, where he was subsequently (four years later) promoted to full professor.

Study of leprosy, vitiligo and tzaraath

Minh spent a decade studying leprosy and vitiligo in various parts of Russia. Having explored the foci of leprosy during a special expedition to Persia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, he gave a description of the clinic and epidemiology of leprosy, and proved that leprosy is an infectious disease. He likewise visited the

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

steppes, the

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

region, and as for as a trip to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, where he collected extensive material on the history of leprosy since ancient times. Minh maintained that the biblical

tzaraath ''Tzaraath'' (Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''ṣāraʿaṯ''), #Name, variously transcribed into English and frequently translated as leprosy (though it is not Hansen's disease, the disease known as "leprosy" in modern times), is a term used in the ...

is synonymous with the modern term

vitiligo Vitiligo (, ) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. The cause of vitiligo is unknown, but it may be related to immune system changes, genetic factors, stress, or sun exposure, and susceptibili ...

.Проказа и песь, iev 1890. vol. 2 p. 53-94

Study of anthrax

Studying the epidemiology of typhus and relapsing fever, he found that the carriers of these diseases where blood-sucking insects. His work, "Plague in Russia" (1898), written on the basis of the study of th
epidemic in 1878-79
in the village of Vetlyanskaya ( Vetluzhsky), was the work of his personal involvement therein; in this work, the characteristic of the clinic and the

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

and pneumonic forms indicated the route of infection. He also found that both intestinal and pulmonary

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

have a common origin. In 1873, he described the anthrax as bodies that migrate in cells, but was not able to properly assess the significance of this observation.

Vetlyanskoy plague of 1879

Minh acquired widespread recognition due to his report on the vetlyanskoy plague of 1879.

Literary works

# ''Leprosy (Lepra arabicum) in the south of Russia'' vol. 1, no. 1-4, Kiev. 1884-87 # ''Проказа и песь'' (Leprosy and Vitiligo) iev 1890. # ''The doctrine of the development of false membranes on the serous surfaces'' - Thesis, Moscow, 1870

References