Analysis of the rabies epizootic in the Central Federal District of Russia in 2018–2022

Abstract

Relevance. At present, a complex epizootic situation with rabies persists in Russia. Every year, foci of rabies are registered in many subjects of the Russian Federation, with the largest number of cases occurring in the Central and Volga Federal Districts, on the territory of which a high level of the episodic index has been maintained for almost a decade (0.99 and 0.978, respectively).Metods. The purpose of the study was to spatiotemporally analyze the results of the development of the epizootic process and identify the main causes of rabies outbreaks in the Central Federal District (CFD) of the Russian Federation over the past five years (2018–2022). The work used information on the epizootic situation of rabies in official reports (FGBU «Center for Veterinary Medicine» of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia), data from published scientific sources and the results of our own research. Analysis of the development of epizootics in the CFD was carried out descriptively and retrospectively.Results. Persistent epizootic trouble in the CFD is confirmed by the annual detection of cases of rabies in all subjects of the district. It has been established that the formation of rabies virus foci is due to the presence of favorable landscape and natural and climatic conditions for maintaining a high number of wild animals, the main reservoir and source of rabies, and periodic introductions of infection from adjacent regions. The spread of rabies in the CFD mainly depends on the control of the number of neglected animals and on the regularity of preventive vaccination of wild and domestic carnivores.