Иксодовые клещи юга Восточной Сибири и Монголии и их спонтанная зараженность возбудителями природно-очаговых трансмиссивных инфекций

The goal of the study is to reveal the species of Ixodid ticks in Eastern Siberia and Mongolia, having epidemiological value and pathogens that transmit to humans via their bites. The tasks is to determine ecologo-epidemiologial characteristics of the main vectors and genetic characteristics of the agents of tick-borne infections. Characterization of the materials. There are materials of the study of more than 200 000 Ixodid ticks of 4 species and their rate of infection by different pathogens with zooparasitological, epidemiological, virological, microbiological, molecular-biological standard and modified to the goals and tasks of the study. Most abundance and dangerous species is Ixodes persulcatus P.Sch. ticks, that is widespread in region investigated. The agents of known vector-borne infections in Eastern Siberia and Mongolia are tick-borne encephalitis virus, Borrelia garinii, Borrelia afze- lii, Rickettsia sibirica, R. sp. DnS14 group.C целью выявления видов иксодовых клещей, имеющих эпидемическое значение на территории Восточной Сибири и Мон- голии, и возбудителей инфекций, передающихся человеку через их укусы, были исследованы эколого-эпидемиологические и ге- нетические характеристики основных переносчиков клещевых инфекций и связанных с ними возбудителей болезней человека. В статье приведены материалы изучения более 200 тыс. экземпляров иксодовых клещей четырех видов, исследован- ных при помощи общепринятых зоопаразитологических, эпидемиологических, вирусологических, микробиологических, молекулярно-биологических и модифицированных применительно к целям и задачам исследования методов. Наиболее массовым и опасным видом является таежный клещ Ixodes persulcatus P. Sch., широко распространенный в регионе. Эпидемиологическое значение имеют также клещи видов Dermacentor nuttalli Ol., Dermacentor silvarum Ol., Hae- maphysalis concinna Koch. Возбудителями трансмиссивных инфекций в Восточной Сибири и Монголии являются вирус КЭ, боррелии, риккетсии, возможно, эрлихии и другие патогены

Land cover patterns in Mongolia and their spatiotemporal changes from 1990 to 2010

© 2019, Saudi Society for Geosciences. Mongolia is in the hinterland of the Mongolian Plateau, which has a varied, fragile, and sensitive geographical environment. Understanding its land cover pattern and change is of great significance for the resources, environment, ecology, and sustainable development of the Mongolia Plateau and Northeast Asia. In this study, land cover products of Mongolia in 1990 and 2010 were obtained via Landsat thematic mapper remote sensing images using an object-oriented classification method. The overall classification accuracies were 82.26% and 92.34%, respectively. Based on the products, the land cover patterns of Mongolia in 2010 and the land cover changes from 1990 to 2010 were analyzed. The spatial pattern presented an obvious regional difference and a land cover type transition from forests, real steppes, and desert steppes to barren from north to south. The provinces with the highest grassland and forest cover were Dornod in Eastern Mongolia and Selenge in Northern Mongolia. From 1990 to 2010, the area of forest, real steppe, cropland, and sand presented a decreasing trend and decreased by 27337.47, 24071.44, 5256.6, and 3868.16 km2, respectively. The area of meadow steppe, desert steppe, bare land, and desert showed an increasing trend and increased by 2943.32, 27815.71, 27721.03, and 2110.26 km2. Our results indicate that the vegetative cover of Mongolia showed a decreasing trend, and the desertification was severe. These changes could be attributed to a combination of climate change, increased livestock grazing and natural disasters, socioeconomic shifts, and exhaustive exploitation of natural resources

Cystic Echinococcoses in Mongolia: Molecular Identification, Serology and Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a globally distributed cestode zoonosis that causes hepatic cysts. Although Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.) is the major causative agent of CE worldwide, recent molecular epidemiological studies have revealed that E. canadensis is common in countries where camels are present. One such country is Mongolia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Forty-three human hepatic CE cases that were confirmed histopathologically at the National Center of Pathology (NCP) in Ulaanbaatar (UB) were identified by analysis of mitochondrial cox 1 gene as being caused by either E. canadensis (n=31, 72.1%) or E. granulosus s.s. (n=12, 27.9%). The majority of the E. canadensis cases were strain G6/7 (29/31, 93.5%). Twenty three haplotypes were identified. Sixteen of 39 CE cases with data on age, sex and province of residence were citizens of UB (41.0%), with 13 of the 16 cases from UB caused by E. canadensis (G6/7) (81.3%). Among these 13 cases, nine were children (69.2%). All pediatric cases (n  =  18) were due to E. canadensis with 17 of the 18 cases (94.4%) due to strain G6/7. Serum samples were available for 31 of the 43 CE cases, with 22 (71.0%) samples positive by ELISA to recombinant Antigen B8/1 (rAgB). Nine of 10 CE cases caused by E. granulosus s.s. (90.0%) and 13 of 20 CE cases by E. canadensis (G6/7) (65.0%) were seropositive. The one CE case caused by E. canadensis (G10) was seronegative. CE cases caused by E. granulosus s.s. showed higher absorbance values (median value 1.131) than those caused by E. canadensis (G6/7) (median value 0.106) (p  =  0.0137). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The main species/strains in the study population were E. canadenis and E. granulossus s.s. with E. canadensis the predominant species identified in children. The reason why E. canadensis appears to be so common in children is unknown