A Case of Human Infection with Plague in the Kosh-Agach Region of the Republic of Altai in 2015. Communication 1. Clinical-Epidemiological and Epizootiological Aspects

Objective of the study is to characterize the case of human plague in the territory of Gorno-Altaisk high-mountain natural focus in 2015 and to analyze the initiated measures, associated with localization and elimination of epidemic focus. Materials and methods. Utilized are the data contained in reporting and source (primary) documentation of the FGHI “Altai Plague Control Station”, records of the Rospotrebnadzor Administration in the Republic of Altai, and information collected by the FGHI “Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute”. Results and conclusions. Human infection occurred as a result of gray marmot dressing, which was caught in the Elangash River-Valley, against the background of unfavorable epizootic situation, caused by proliferation of the plague agent of main subspecie in the territory of the focus. Clinical material investigations, performed by means of bacteriological and molecular-genetic methods, showed negative findings. Applying serological method within the system of indirect hemagglutination test (IHAT)/antigen neutralization test (ANT), in blood sera, obtained at the time of hospitalization, low-titred specific antibodies to plague microbe (recognized as post-vaccinal ones) were detected. In blood serum sample, obtained 7 days later, identified were high-titer antibodies, which allowed for confirmation of clinical diagnosis - “bubonic plague”. Due to efficient cooperation between Rospotrebnadzor institutions and medical facilities, as well as municipal authorities it was possible to avoid further development of anthropogenic transmission of plague; to localize and eliminate epidemic outbreak of this dangerous infectious disease in Kosh-Agach Region of the Republic of Altai in the shortest possible time