[Evolution of epidemiology]

The emergence, formation and stages of the development of today epidemiology of infectious diseases are analyzed. Differences in views concerning the essence of epidemiology as science between Russian and foreign schools are indicated. The brief description of the main stages in rendering basic concepts of Russian epidemiology more extensive and profound, including the gradual alteration of the view on epidemiology as the science dealing only with the epidemic process, is presented. In this connection new data on the epidemiological specificity of zoonotic, and especially sapronotic infections, leading to an essenmtal correction of the main postulates of epidemiology, are analyzed. Broader notions of the reservoirs of the causative agents of infections are given, the discrete character of the epidemic (epizootic) process, the role of the latent forms of bacteria in their preservation both in the environment and in the human body in the course of the infectious process are postulated. The complexity of the term "emerging infections" is discussed and 3 variants of its interpretation are proposed. The increasing role of anthropogenic factors, including technogenic effects, is emphasized; in future these factors may be capable of accelerating the man-made evolution of epidemiology.