COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF THE NATURAL TULAREMIA FOCUS IN THE CONFLUENCE OF IRTYSH AND OB RIVERS

Abstract

Objective of the study is to conduct the complex investigations aimed at identification of circulation pathways of tularemia agent, as well as to define the main carriers and vectors of the disease. Materials and methods. Trap trench method, trap fences and trap-lines were used to catch small mammals for examination. Bacteriological testing on tularemia infection in animals was carried out using spleen samples. In addition, water samples were studied. Results and conclusions. In 2015, performed were complex zoological-parasitological and bacteriological studies aimed at identification of circulation pathways of tularemia agent in the natural focus of floodplain-river type in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District – Yugra, in the confluence of Irtysh and Ob rivers. The total volume of the material tested was 542 specimens of small mammals of 16 species and 447 specimens of amphibians belonging to 4 species. It was established that, compared to 2013, zoocoenosis restructuring in the floodplain habitats occurred. The main carrier and a massive source of tularemia infection – the water vole – was excluded from the small mammals’ community. Also, ectoparasites composition changed; no specific ectoparasites of the water vole were to be found. In 2015, in the confluence of Irtysh and Ob rivers, lukewarm epizooty among the small mammals was observed. Essential for the occurrence of acute tularemia epizooty prerequisites were absent.