About epizootic and epidemic manifestations of tularemia In Central Ciscaucasia and measures to ensure biosecurity

Abstract

According to long-term observations of enzootic tularemia, 56.2% of the administrative territories of the Stavropol Territory, which belongs to the Central Ciscaucasia, are confined to the steppe landscape-geographical zone. In the Stavropol Territory, there are areas of two natural foci of tularemia. The first is the Terek-Kum floodplain, which is located in the mouths of the Terek and Kuma rivers, as well as in the swampy coastal strip of the Caspian Sea. The second is the Ciscaucasian plain-foothill steppe type, which includes the territory from the western part of the Ciscaucasia and the Azov Sea in the northwest to the Sunzhensky Range in the southeast. In the last twenty-six years from 1990 to 2016, in the province, 61 cases of tularemia were recorded in 11 enzootic regions, as well as two cities of regional subordination, whose infection occurred when they left the enzootic territories. In the main, there was a sporadic morbidity with the contact mechanism of transmission in hunters and their families when cutting the hares and preparing them, as well as the waterway of infection. The situation with the activation of the natural focus of tularemia once again showed the risks in the region for the population and the need to strengthen the epidemiological surveillance of this especially dangerous infection, as well as the implementation of sanitary and preventive measures, including immunization of the population, information and explanatory work, checking the anti-epidemic readiness of therapeutic and preventive institutions and employment with medical staff