EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND EPIZOOTIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION ON TULAREMIA IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 2016 AND FORECAST FOR 2017

123 cases of human infection with Francisella tularensis were registered in the territory of the Russian Federation in 2016. 90 % of the total number was reported by three Federal Districts: North-Western, Siberian, and Central ones. Epizootic manifestations of varying intensity were detected in 56 regions. A considerable number of tularemia cases were observed in the Republic of Karelia, Nenets Autonomous District, Omsk and Ryazan Regions, and in Saint-Petersburg. Conspicuous are some recent peculiarities of tularemia manifestations: non-specificity of clinical symptoms, especially at early stages of the disease, their increasing variability against the background of mixed infections with tularemia and other natural-focal infections agents. The most expressed symptoms are fever and lymphatic adenitis; the patients are diagnosed with tularemia during initial days of the sought treatment in 40-45 % of the cases. Based on the data on morbidity rates in humans, epizootiological condition of natural tularemia foci, the numbers of isolated cultures and incidence of the vectors and carriers of the agent, as well as taking into consideration the scope of preventive vaccination in the regions, identified were the territories in which epidemic complication are most likely to occur in 2017