Analiz Riska Zdorovʹû (Sep 2019)

Geoinformation technologies for assessing epizootologic and epidemiologic situation with anthrax

  • E.G. Simonova,
  • A.A. Shabeikin,
  • S.R. Raichich,
  • M.N. Loktionova,
  • S.A. Saburova,
  • M.A. Patyashina,
  • V.I. Ladnyi,
  • A.M. Gulyukin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21668/health.risk/2019.3.09.eng
Journal volume & issue
no. 3
pp. 74 – 82

Abstract

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The article dwells on opportunities granted by application of geoinformation technologies in surveillance over anthrax, an infection that still remains rather dangerous. It was shown that, in spite of a decrease in incidence with anthrax among animals and people, risks persist on the RF territory; these risks are caused by residual activity in soil foci. A geoinformation system was applied to determine that at present areas where anthrax can be detected are predominantly located in forest-steppe zones, steppe zones, dry steppe zones, and Caucasian-Crimean mountain regions. 82 % of all the outbreaks detected in the 21st century occurred in these geographic zones. Unfavorable situation with anthrax seems to be clearly bound to territories with prevailing leached black earth, common black earth, mountain black earth, and mountain cinnamonic soil. Over the last years most anthrax outbreaks have occurred on these territories. All these territories were shown to have warm climate, with predominant stockbreeding in agriculture, as well as great numbers of cattle in private households; these cattle grazed freely on territories of natural foci with anthrax, and a lot of household work was handled manually. Territories that took leading places among unfavorable ones usually had a lot of households with cattle that nowadays remains a basic source of epidemiologic risk. We chose Tatarstan as a model region to show opportunities offered by a geoinformation system for improving epidemiologic sur-veillance over anthrax in relation to risk assessment. This territory was chosen due to high epizootologic activity and sporadic incidence among population detected there. We revealed risk territories in the region, determined basic reasons for unfavorable situation with anthrax as well as factors that made this situation even more complicated.

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