Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus in Kazakhstan (1948-2013)

AbstractCrimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a pathogenic and often fatal arboviral disease with a distribution spanning large areas of Africa, Europe and Asia. The causative agent is a negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus classified within the Nairovirus genus of the Bunyaviridae family.Cases of CCHF have been officially recorded in Kazakhstan since the disease was first officially reported in modern medicine. Serological surveillance of human and animal populations provide evidence that the virus was perpetually circulating in a local enzoonotic cycle involving mammals, ticks and humans in the southern regions of the country. Most cases of human disease were associated with agricultural professions such as farming, shepherding and fruit-picking; the typical route of infection was via tick-bite although several cases of contact transmission associated with caring for sick patients have been documented.In total, 704 confirmed human cases of CCHF have been registered in Kazakhstan from 1948-2013 with an overall case fatality rate of 14.8% for cases with a documented outcome.The southern regions of Kazakhstan should be considered endemic for CCHF with cases reported from these territories on an annual basis. Modern diagnostic technologies allow for rapid clinical diagnosis and for surveillance studies to monitor for potential expansion in known risk areas

Epizootiologic Parameters for Plague in Kazakhstan

Infection reduces survival of otherwise asymptomatic maintenance hosts in a natural reservoir population

Plague: past, present and future

[Introduction] Recent experience with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) [1] and avian flu shows that the public and political response to threats from new anthropozoonoses can be near-hysteria. This can readily make us forget more classical animal-borne diseases, such as plague (Box 1). Three recent international meetings on plague (Box 2) concluded that: (1) it should be re-emphasised that the plague bacillus (Yersinia pestis) still causes several thousand human cases per year [2,3] (Figure 1); (2) locally perceived risks far outstrip the objective risk based purely on the number of cases [2]; (3) climate change might increase the risk of plague outbreaks where plague is currently endemic and new plague areas might arise [2,4]; (4) remarkably little is known about the dynamics of plague in its natural reservoirs and hence about changing risks for humans [5]; and, therefore, (5) plague should be taken much more seriously by the international community than appears to be the case

Development of a Reagent for Evaluation of Incipient Immune Response to the Live Plague Vaccine

Objective of the study is to develop a reagent for the detection of lymphocytes with Yersinia pestis F1 antigen receptors. Materials and methods. Utilized have been: live plague vaccine based on the strain of Yersinia pestis EV NIIEG, formalin killed suspensions of microorganisms - Y. pestis , 3123, Y. enterocolitica O9 H-383 serovar, Y. pseudotuberculosis O1 2841 serovar; acetaldehyde-immobilized capsular antigen of Y. pestis F1 (obtained applying Baker methodology), lipopolysaccharide of Y. pestis K1, and bovine erythrocytes. Bovine erythrocyte F1 sensibilization has been performed using rivanol. Lymphocytes from blood have been isolated in density gradient ficoll-verografin 1.077. Lymphocytes with Yersinia pestis F1 antigen receptors have been detected by means of reagent adhesion onto the isolated lymphocytes. F1-free erythrocytes serve as controls. After the exposition, 7 evaluations of specificity to F1 and the lymphocytes, binding control reagent, have been carried out. Deployed have been 8 rabbits, immunized with live vaccine EV, and 2 rabbits, immunized with inactivated vaccine EV. Examined have been EV-vaccinated 5 persons. Results and conclusions. Identified is optimum sensibilizing dose of F1 antigen (250 µg/ml). Specificity of lymphocytes with receptors to F1 is demonstrated in inhibition experiments applying homologous and heterogeneous antigens. Lymphocytes with receptors to F1 (LRs) have been detected in peripheral blood of all rabbits and humans, immunized with vaccine EV. LRs have been registered since day 2 till day 35 in the rabbits, and in humans - since day 2 till day 14 after vaccination. It is shown that in case of revaccination of humans, LRs emerge and disappear earlier, than in case of primary immunization

Brief space and time characteristics of epizootic plague situation in Kazakhstan in 2011

The natural plague foci of Kazakhstan occupy a huge territory. The mapping of these foci is a very important part of the plague monitoring and has a scientific and practical meaning. The old paper mapped data have been obsolete and. all previous and. current data have been digitized now. The digitizing of the data was carried by ArcGIS program. The epidemiological and epizootological analysis of the data of 2012 showed that the Kazakh plague natural foci were active in that time. And the analysis showed that by the complex factors a more active and epidemic hazardous area was Qyzylorda Region

THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SITUATION ON CHOLERA IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN IN 2011

The analysis of registered cholera cases that occurred during 1993-2008 showed that all epidemic cases of cholera in Kazakhstan were imported. The toxigenic cholera microbes were isolated from the water reservoirs which started in the neighbor country. The spatial distribution of non-toxic cholera vibrio has the regional features. The climatic and anthropogenic factors affect the distribution of the cholera vibrio in the Kazakhstan. The results of the analysis show that the complex approach has to be used for cholera epidemiological monitoring

Analysis of epidemiologic situation of cholera in 2012 in Kazakhstan

In the world the tendency of growth of cholera cases has been increasing. In Kazakhstan in 2011 epidemic cholera strains were isolated from the environment. In 2012 the cholera situation was quite stable. The cholera strains were isolated from the environment. Strains V. cholerae non O1 were isolated from people. But all isolated strains were not hazardous. By the complex of factors the South. Kazakhstan. Region is more cholera unfavorable region in Kazakhsta

Morphological, Physiological and Genetic Characteristics of Populations of the Main Plague Host Rhombomys opimus Licht., 1823 in the Central Asian Desert Natural Focus of Plague

Revealed by morphological characters, physiological status, and genetic diversity of populations of the main plague host Rhombomys opimus Licht., 1823 in Central Asia desert natural focus is described.Differences in the skull parameters of R. opimus from different populations were revealed. It’s shown that gerbils from Moyunkum are separate autonomous populations group. Samples from Moyunkum and Mangyshlak differed from other samples. In Balkhash-Alakol depression found two regional complexes: Pre-Balkhash and Dzungarian.Study results of free amino acids level in R. opimus blood serum obtained by gas-liquid chromatography of blood sera from animals captured in different zones of Central Asian focus gave statistically significant differences. To determine genetic variability in ecological and geographical isolation of R. opimus populations the DNA was genotyped.DNA samples analysis combined the studied gerbil from the desert focus into four clusters with eighteen haplotypes. R. opimus sequence analysis taking into account data from territories of Iran, Kazakhstan and China, clustered into three large clusters. First cluster combined the sequences of Kazakhstan and China samples, while great gerbil captured in Kazakhstan is located in a separate treasure. Second and third clusters include sequences of a great gerbil captured in Iran

Identifying Sources of Human Exposure to Plague

Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, has shaped the course of human history, killing millions of people in three major pandemics. This bacterium is still endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, where it poses a natural disease threat to human populations. Y. pestis has also recently received attention as a possible bioterrorism agent. Thus, rapid methods to distinguish between bioterrorism and naturally occurring plague infections are of major importance. Our study is the first to demonstrate that variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs) in the Y. pestis genome can link human case isolates to those obtained from suspected environmental sources of infection. We demonstrate the valuable utility of VNTR markers in epidemiological investigations of naturally occurring plague and the forensic analysis of possible bioterrorism events

Mapping the distribution of the main host for plague in a complex landscape in Kazakhstan: an object-based approach using SPOT-5 XS, Landsat 7 ETM+, SRTM and multiple random forests

Plague is a zoonotic infectious disease presentin great gerbil populations in Kazakhstan. Infectious disease dynamics are influenced by the spatial distribution of the carriers (hosts) of the disease. The great gerbil, the main host in our study area, lives in burrows, which can be recognized on high resolution satellite imagery. In this study, using earth observation data at various spatial scales, we map the spatial distribution of burrows in a semi-desertlandscape