Landscape-Epidemiological Zoning of the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea by Tularemia

• Main Authors: V. P. Popov, V. M. Mezentsev, A. V. Antonov, G. P. Shkurin, V. E. Bezsmertny, A. A. Lopatin
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Federal Government Health Institution, Russian Research Anti-Plague Institute “Microbe” 2019-07-01
• Series: Проблемы особо опасных инфекций
• Subjects: tularemia; natural-focal diseases; medical-geographical mapping; epidemiological differentiation of the territory; degree of potential epidemic hazard; landscape confinedness of persistent tularemia manifestations; gis
• Online Access: https://journal.microbe.ru/jour/article/view/1157
• ISSN: 0370-1069; 2658-719X

Objective of the study was epizootic-epidemiological zoning of the area of Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea by manifestations of tularemia to determine the level of epidemic hazard of each zone.Materials and methods. Utilized were archival data of the Black Sea Plague Control station over the period of 1946–2017 and plague Control Center of the Rospotrebnadzor. With the help of GIS software packages, MapINFO 10.5 and ArcGIS 10.2, the data bases containing the point-like layers of the sites of infection with tularemia (49), isolation of tularemia agent (195), and the layer of landscape-geographical regions in the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea were created.Results and discussion. Usage of the geo-information technologies allowed for detailed consideration of tularemia manifestations in different parts of the region. The prospects of applying Arc GIS and MapINFO for geoencoding, processing and creation of geo-information pool of tularemia manifestations over a long period was shown. Vector data of landscapes and sites of epidemics and epizootic manifestations of tularemia on different species of mammals and ticks were generated. The conversion of the database to Microsoft Excel made it possible to make full use of statistical capabilities for epidemiological analysis. The work on epidemiological zoning carried out in the Krasnodar region and the Republic of Adygea starkly illustrated the feasibility of using GIS technologies for those purposes. The results of the analysis allowed for optimization of the mode of epizootiological survey in different parts of the studied region. Advisability of epizootiological inspection and monitoring of the territories with identification of geographical coordinates for epizootic manifestation sites was proved.