Summarized are the results of the work on provision of sanitary and epidemiological well-being during the arrangement and carrying out the APEC Summit on the Russky Island. The set of organizational and prophylactic measures aimed at prevention of potential danger of emergency situation of sanitary and epidemiological character is presented. Measures on provision of epidemiological well-being of the participants and guests of the APEC Summit, based upon interaction of the regional plague-control institutions with anti-epidemic and health services of the Primorsky Region, demonstrated their efficiency. Epidemiological situation on the Russky Island and Vladivostok city was safe. The materials presented can be used to develop a set of measures ensuring the epidemiological well-being during large scale political and economic events holding at the national and international levels.

Within the limits of Central Caucasian high-mountain natural plague focus discovered are two zones of natural focality. The first natural focality zone in the mountain steppe of the eastern part of the focus has a parasitic complex similar in structural organization and functioning to lowland foci of the souslik type. Another one, situated in the western part of the focus, is compatible with Tuva mountain natural plague focus, where fleas
Neopsylla setosaare absent, and epizootic activity is characterized by a single-humped curve with an apex for July-August period. The similarities stated above can be used for optimization of epidemiological surveillance techniques, preventive measures, and methodology of studying mountain natural plague foci of the souslik type.

Local climate change (rise of mean temperatures and amount of precipitation, prolongation of frost-free season) triggers further distribution, and increase in numbers of animals – carriers and vectors of West Nile fever virus in the territory of the Saratov region. Based on the results of ecological-epizootiological monitoring (2006–2012) traced out have been the species composition, abundance dynamics, and character of distribution of birds habitant in aquatic and anthropogenic complexes, mosquitoes and Ixodidae ticks. Investigated are possible causes of West Nile fever nosoarea expansion, related to ecology of migrating birds wintering in Africa. Persistent circulation of the virus in intra-zonal inundated biocoenosis facilitates formation of secondary natural foci of West Nile fever and factors into epidemic complications as regards this particularly dangerous vector-borne infection. On the basis of analytical data concerning hydrographic network density, fauna structure, population numbers of birds and mosquitoes – potential carriers and vectors of WNF, epizootiological and epidemiological surveillance, designed has been expectation-driven forecasting map chart which illustrates possibility of sustainable WNF foci formation in various territories of the Saratov region.

Climate changes determine dynamics of epizootic activity of natural plague foci in the XX and XXI centuries. Obvious shift to continentality in the Northern hemisphere can put an end to inter-epizootic period in lowland steppe and semi-desert natural foci of the Pre-Caucasian region, North and North-West Caspian Sea regions. Presently observed conjoined development of inter-epizootic periods in natural plague foci with different biocoenotic structure in the territory of Pre-Caspian Lowland gives the grounds for assuming the presence of a common cause preconditioning parasitic system depression in the region. One of the key elements of this phenomenon is a change of status of little souslik – formerly the main plague carrier in the region. Subsequent to the climate change the key role of plague carrier is more often played by non-hibernating rodent species nowadays. Thus a significant increase in epizootic potential of steppe natural plague foci in the territory of Kazakhstan and Central Asia is prognosticated. With the further temperature fall during wintertime, snow cover height increase and glacial area extension epizootic activity of the mountain and high mountain foci must drop off significantly. Alongside with this updated data on plague agent ecology, predetermining possibility of its existence in the soil biota, confirm the key role of climactic factors in the plague enzootic outbreak.

International public events (IPE) present some actual epidemiological problems requiring proper methodological elaboration. In this respect for the first time developed has been the scheme of assessment of their potential epidemic hazard (PEH), based on integrated evaluation of epidemiological risk as regards infectious diseases listed in the IHR (2005). On the cholera model demonstrated is the fact that high priority hazard of public events emerges when those are combined with such elements of epidemiological risk as territory and time of a threat, as well as risk factors and risk contingents. Thus the integral effect of all elements realization is manifested through high probability of infectious disease importation, which is associated with emergency situation, into the public event location and the disturbance of mass gathering progress. Reliability and functionality of the developed scheme is verified on other infections too. PEH assessment procedure allows for timely identification of priority goals, for rating means and capacities, organizational resources, methodological and technological arrays for the provision of sanitary-epidemiological welfare and biological safety when managing public event.

Discussed is the build-up of a term “sanitary protection of the territories”. Regardless of commonly accepted definition of sanitation as a discipline that studies issues of public hygiene, sanitary protection of the territories, being for the most part an epidemiological phenomenon and an element of epidemiology, has maintained historically developed attribute “sanitary”. Demonstrated is the fact that variations in interpretation of the terms in the sphere of sanitary protection of the territories in various contexts of international intercourse (WHO and SIC) do not affect general concept of the issue and choice of ways for handling a problem as regards provision of sanitary-epidemiological welfare of the population. Objectives and content of the two notions formalized in IHR (2005), – “global epidemiological surveillance” plus “response measures” – predetermine their equivalence (in reference to the situations covered in the document), to the definitions “epidemiological surveillance” plus “sanitary protection”, applied to in the territory of CIS counties.

The paper contains the data on the complex phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of
Yersinia pestisstrains isolated in Trans-Baikal steppe plague focus before and after the succession of the main carrier which took place in the 1960s. Based on the PCR-analysis and multilocus sequence typing of
glpD, melB, napA, rhaA, and
iclR genes, encoding differentially significant properties such as glycerin, melibiose, rhamnose fermentation, isocitrate lyase production, and denitrification activity, developed are the proofs of affiliation of the studied strains to the biovariant antiqua of the plague agent main subspecies. Multilocus VNTR-analysis by seven locuses of variable tandem repeats – ms01, ms04, ms06, ms07, ms46, ms62 – has been used to establish genetic relations between the strains. Thus on the basis of the results obtained, it is established that the strains of the plague agent, isolated in the Trans-Baikal steppe focus in various periods of its existence, form one common branch on the phylogenetic tree of
Y. pestis evolution.

Designed is an optimized scheme for SNP analysis of the genome wide sequences of plague agent strains, based on the consecutive algorithm of clusterization of individual intraspesific Y. pestis groups. The scheme comprises 680 singular polymorphic nucleotides (SNPs), the usage of which provides not only for the clustering of closely related strains, but for the determination of phylogenetic bonds between groups of strains and order of their divergence from the common tree-trunk of the plague agent evolution. Based on the consecutive 680-SNP algorithm, carried out is the analysis of genome wide sequences of C-627 Y. pestis strain isolated in Central-Caucasian high-mountain focus (Russia), strain 1454 isolated in Altay mountain focus (Russia), strain 231 (708) – Aksay high mountain focus (Kirgizia), and vaccine EV NIIEG (Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene) strain, applied for immunization in the Russian Federation and in a number of other countries. Identified are the genome variants of the strains: 1. ORI3 (EV NIIEG), 2. MED0 (C-627), 0.ANT3 (231(708)), 0.ANT4 (1454), and their place in the scheme of Y. pestis global variation. Evidenced is the absence of the chromosomal region responsible for pigmentation in the genome wide sequence of the vaccine strain EV NIIEG, which testifies to its safe use for specific plague prophylaxis.

Omics technologies developed in recent years significantly changed our approach in study molecular biology of bacterial pathogens. The research now can be conducted at a whole-genome level enabling us to simultaneously measure variable components, such as proteins, nucleic acids, metabolites, cell lipid composition, etc . This complex work requires a constant interaction of multi-disciplinary experts to integrate biology, instrumentation and computational science. A multi-omics research (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) was applied to Y. pestis -centric system biology study. Integrated omics datasets allowed to refine genome annotations, discover novel putative virulence factors, build regulatory networks, and create an interactive computational metabolic model.

capture and transport in bacteria. At least one endogenous siderophore system, yersiniabactin, is known to be involved in iron acquisition in highly virulent Yersiniae . Its inactivation in Y. pestis and Y. enterocolitica subsp. enterocolitica results in significant attenuation of virulence. However, the yersiniabactin is not present in all highly virulent Yersiniae. Indeed, the large group of Y. pseudotuberculosis serotypes O2, O3, O4, O5 as well as serotype O1 Far East Scarlet like fever (FESLF) strains carry an alternative, iron acquisition system, pseudochelin, encoded by the Yersinia non-ribosomal peptide ynp locus. Thus, the yersiniabactin activity is not the only one associated with the high-pathogenicity phenotype of the human pathogenic Yersiniae .

Objective of this review is to analyze diachronically paradigm shift as regards problems of specific plague prophylaxis and appreciate contribution of the present-day scientific discoveries in the sphere of plague agent investigations and peculiarities of its interaction with host organism to the solution of topical issues of vaccine development that will be safe and tangibly effective against this particularly dangerous disease. Outlined is the historical background of the conceptual evolution concerning specific plague prophylaxis and events that are landmarked with eminent scientific discoveries by A.Yersin, French researcher and microbiologist. Given are the data on the current state of plague immune-prophylaxis both in Russia and around the world. Through the prism of the latest researches that assume application of advanced technological resource of medical sciences (molecular biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, molecular immunology) put forward is the prospective of search and construction of safe and effective anti-plague next generation vaccines.

Using site-specific mutagenesis constructed were the variants of the vaccine strain F. tularensis subsp. holarctica 15 with the deleted iglC genes. Identified was the fact that genome of the strain 15 contained two copies of iglC gene. Deletion of one of them as well as both had little effect on the cultural-morphological and growth properties of the microbe. At the same time F. tularensis 15 lacking one copy of the iglC gene propagated in mice macrophages several times slower, than the original strain. Inactivation of both of the copies in the chromosome leaded to the emergence of a variant incapable of intracellular reproduction. This capacity in F. tularensis 15/23-2 with two inactivated iglC gene copies was partially recovered after integration of a complementing plasmid. Therewith the data mentioned above testifies to the significance of iglC gene for the process of reproduction in macrophages.