Tularemia: Relevant Issues and Forecast of Epidemic Situation in the Territory of the Russian Federation in 2018

168 cases of human infection with Francisella tularensis were registered in the Russian Federation in 2017. 80 % of the cases are accounted for by three Federal Districts: North-Western, North-Caucasian, and Siberian ones. Epizootic manifestations of the infection of varying intensity were reported in 61 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. High morbidity rates in 2017 were observed in the Stavropol Territory – 49 tularemia cases, in the Republic of Karelia – 40, Omsk Region – 20, and Saint Petersburg – 12. To assess epizootic and epidemic situation in each constituent entity of the Federation, the numbers of small mammals and their species composition, infection rates of rodents, ticks, mosquitoes, horseflies, hunting animals, nests, regurgitates of birds of prey and excrements of carnivores, surface water bodies, agent culture numbers, isolated from clinical samples, animals, ticks and water, as well as the data on incidence and vaccination of the population in the region were analyzed. The conclusion has been drawn in regard to the territories where epidemic complications are most likely to occur in 2018.

tularemia, Francisella tularensis, natural foci, epidemic situation, epizootic situation

1. Ermakov A.V., Koval’chuk I.V., Shapovalova N.A., Sazonov A.V., Ivanova L.A., Senatenko Yu.A., Purmak K.A., Agapitov D.A., Maletskaya O.V. [Regarding organization of sanitary-anti-epidemic (preventive) measures following activation of natural tularemia focus in the Stavropol Territory in 2017]. In: [Population Wellbeing and Environment]. Stavropol: “Paragraf”, 2017. P. 19–27.

2. Mokrievich A.N., Timofeev V.S., Kudryavtseva T.Yu., Ulanova G.I., Karbysheva S.B., Mironova R.I., Vakhrameeva G.M., Gubareva T.I., Pavlov V.M., Dyatlov I.A. [Isolation of central asian subspecies of tularemia agent in the Altai Territory]. Probl. Osobo Opasn. Infek. 2013; 1:66–9.

3. Challacombe J.F., Petersen J.M., Gallegos-Graves L.V., Hodge D., Pillai S., Kuske C.R. Whole-genome relationships among Francisella bacteria of diverse origins define new species and provide specific regions for detection. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2017; 83: e02589-16. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02589-16.

4. Challacombe J.F., Pillai S., Kuske C.R. Shared features of cryptic plasmids from environmental and pathogenic Francisella species. PLoS ONE. 2017; 12(8):e0183554. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183554.

5. Huber B., Escudero R., Busse H.J., Seibold E., Scholz H.C., Anda P., Kampfer P., Splettstoesser W.D. Description of Francisella hispaniensis sp. nov., isolated from human blood, reclassification of Francisella novicida (Larson et al. 1955) Olsufiev et al. 1959. as Francisella tularensis subsp. novicida comb. nov. and emended description of the genus Francisella. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2010; 60:1887–96. DOI: 10.1099/ijs.0.015941-0.

6. Qu P.H., Chen S.Y., Scholz H.C., Busse H.J., Gu Q., Kдmpfer P., Foster J.T., Glaeser S.P., Chen C., Yang Z.C. 2013. Francisella guangzhouensis sp. nov., isolated from air-conditioning systems. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2013; 63:3628–35. DOI: 10.1099/ijs.0.049916-0.

7. Rydzewski K., Schulz T., Brzuszkiewicz E., Holland G., Lьck C., Fleischer J., Grunow R., Heuner K.. Genome sequence and phenotypic analysis of a first German Francisella sp. isolate (W12-1067) not belonging to the species Francisella tularensis. BMC Microbiol. 2014; 14:169. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2180-14-169.

8. Timofeev V., Bakhteeva I., Titareva G., Kopylov P., Christiany D., Mokrievich A., Dyatlov I., Vergnaud G. Russian isolates enlarge the known geographic diversity of Francisella tularensis subsp. mediasiatica. PLoS ONE. 2017; 12(9):e0183714. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183714.