Molecular epidemiological study of animal rabies in Kazakhstan

Rabies in the Republic of Kazakhstan: spatial and temporal characteristics of disease spread over one decade (2013–2022)

“…Rabies is a serious public health concern in Kazakhstan ( 9 , 10 ). The cumulative mortality rate, considering the number of human deaths recorded between 2010 and 2017 and the population size registered in 2020, attributable to rabies was believed to be higher in Kazakhstan ( n = 38; 2 per million inhabitants) than in neighboring countries, such as Uzbekistan (no death recorded), Kyrgyzstan ( n = 12; 1.8 per million), Turkmenistan ( n = 1; 0.2 per million), and the Russian Federation ( n = 51; 0.3 per million), with the only exception of China ( n = 9,197 deaths, 6.6 per million) ( 11 ).…”

“…Despite efforts to control the disease, rabies is still endemic in Kazakhstan. Reasons that may explain the limited success in controlling the disease in the country include, for example, challenges associated with the identification of the location and size of the susceptible population (which may result in incomplete vaccination coverage), limitations on the implementation of control measures (given that the coordination of public service actions to diagnose and eliminate the outbreaks may take up to 7 days), the influence of detection and information bias, and limited epidemiological surveillance, particularly in wild animals ( 10 , 19 , 20 ).…”

“…A retrospective analysis of data provided by the National Veterinary Services, resulted in the identification of significant spatial and temporal clusters, and zoning and regionalization strategies were subsequently recommended ( 19 ). Although the frequency of cases per susceptible species in Kazakhstan seems to also vary across regions ( 10 , 17 , 19 ), species-specific clusters of disease, and their relation with demographic and environmental factors, are yet to be elucidated.…”