Vysokovich, Vladimir

Born Jan. 16 (28), 1854, in Gaisin, in present-day Vinnitsa Oblast; died May 13 (26), 1912, in Kiev. Russian pathologoanatomist, bacteriologist, and epidemiologist. Graduated from the medical school of the University of Kharkov in 1876.

In 1895, Vysokovich became a professor in the department of pathological anatomy of the University of Kiev. His main works dealt with pathological anatomy, syphilis, and tuberculosis and with the pathogenesis, immunity, and epidemiology of several infectious diseases. With I. I. Mechnikov, he created the basis for the teaching of a system that later came to be called the reticuloendothelial system. Vysokovich combined morphological and bacteriological methods of research. He was the first to establish the origin of fibroblasts and wandering cells of connective tissue from histiocytes (1882), the ability of endothelial cells of blood vessels and wandering cells of connective tissue to seize bacteria introduced into the blood (1886), the role of the regional lymph nodes in the pathogenesis of infection (1888), the suitability of killed bacteria for vaccination against anthrax (1889) and plague (1896), and the identity of tuberculosis and scrofula (1890). Vysokovich organized and led expeditions to control epidemics of cholera (1892 in Kharkov, 1908 in Kiev) and plague (1896 in Bombay, India, and 1902 and 1910 in Odessa).