Epidemiological Situation on Anthrax in the World in 2025, the Forecast for 2026 in the Russian Federation

The results of assessment of the epidemiological situation on anthrax in the world in 2025 are provided; the dynamics of anthrax incidence in the period of 2016–2025 and the forecast for 2026 in the Russian Federation are presented. In 2025, one outbreak of anthrax was registered in Russia in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, with seven heads of small ruminants infected; there was no infection of humans. Over the last decade (2016–2025), compared to the previous one (2006–2015), the number of registered outbreaks of anthrax infection decreased by 2.7 times, the number of sick people – by 1.1 times, and the number of sick farm animals increased by 11.9 times – due to the epizootics in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District of the Ural Federal District. The unfavorable situation on anthrax was noted in four neighboring countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Georgia. The most intense epizootiological and epidemiological situation has been recorded in Asian and African countries with large-scale epizootics among wild animals in African national parks. Human infection was caused by contact with sick animals during forced slaughter, processing and ingestion of contaminated meat. The incidence of anthrax in animals and humans in the Russian Federation in 2026 will be determined by the completeness of the complex of preventive measures and, if fully implemented, will be limited to sporadic cases. There remains a potential risk of complications in the epidemiological situation due to the possibility of importing sick animals and livestock products from countries affected by anthrax to Russia, primarily from Central Asia to the border regions of the Russian Federation.

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