Epizootological and epidemiological monitoring of anthrax in the Arctic and Eastern zones of Yakutia

In 1997, 5024 steadily unfavorable sites for anthrax were registered in Siberia and in the Far East. Among all the Arctic territories of the Russian Federation, Yakutia contains a certain number of these sites, where numerous epizootics of anthrax among domestic reindeer and wild animals were recorded at the end of 19 century and at the beginning of the 20 century. According to archival documents, the first written evidence on anthrax appeared in the reports of district, alien and volost administrations of the Kolyma, Verkhoyansk districts, dating back to 1811. In the memorial book of the Yakutsk region for 1896, the data on the epizootic diseases in the Yakut, Vilyuisk and Kolyma districts are presented.

The locations of the main number of anthrax cattle burial grounds and the places of random burials of animals who died from anthrax were not clearly identified and were not included in the epizootological survey. The real danger of the historical burial places of dead animals was manifested by anthrax epizootic among reindeer in the Taimyr region of the Russian Arctic in 1969 and 1977, in Yakutia in 1988. A special revival of zoonosis was recorded in 1970 along river banks, in 1993 – in the vicinity of settlements. The epizootic-epidemiological situation of 2016, which took place in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Territory, is didactive in its nature.

Modern data indicate that the survival of B. anthracis spores and the existence of anthrax soil foci under the climatic conditions of the Far North actually take place. Their recovery (activity) is recorded after several decades or more. The possibility of a microbe to survive through a full life cycle in permafrost soil (sporogenesis, spore initiation, germination, reproduction of vegetative cells, sporulation) was proved. The absence of officially registered soil foci in Yakutia does not exclude their potentially actual secrecy not only under the cover of “mor fields” but also in paleontological remains (mammoths, cave lion, woolly rhinoceros, and lining soils).

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