THE KAINAR SYNDROME : HISTORY AND MODERN UNDERSTANDING

Several years after the tests at the SNTS had been started, the authorities received several letters from local residents complaining for some strange symptoms, that were unknown in this area before. The letters were passed to President of Kazakhstan's Science Academy Professor Kuanish Satpaev. In 1958 he ordered to send a group of medical researchers to check the reason of "strange conditions". As a result of the studies, the group described patients with symptoms like increased bleeding, hair loss, fainting and fatigue. In the blood tests the main finding was leucopenia. As it was impossible to attribute the findings to nuclear tests, the way was found. These symptoms were combined in "Kainar syndrome" as the group provided their studies in nearby villages, but most patients were exactly from Kainar village itself. Brucellosis, local infectious disease from sheep, combined with lack of vitamins, was named as the reason of newly described condition. Authorities didn't believe to the results of this study, so another group was send to the area in 1959, but they returned with the same results. So, the secret Dispensary N4, which was opened in Semipalatinsk in 1957, was renamed into "Antibrucellosis Dispensary" and had the task to study health condition of those affected by nuclear tests. Nowadays this is our Research Institute for Radiation Medicine and Ecology (renamed in 1991). It is difficult to explain the clinical signs, that were seen in some of the Kainar area residents. Some explanation may come from better understanding of Dosimetry, and another one — from damaged psychology of the exposed.