What happens at the epicenter of the epidemic?

There is an outbreak of anthrax in Yamal, a long-forgotten deadly disease. According to official information, unprecedented heat in the region led to the tragedy. But, according to local residents, it was not possible to prevent the tragedy due to banal negligence.

Quarantine has been introduced in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. For at least a month. The sale of fresh meat, fish, berries and mushrooms is prohibited. Reindeer herders whose plagues were located in the infection zone lost their homes and income. To eliminate the consequences, radiochemical and biological defense troops, rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and doctors from the federal center were sent to Yamal.

The central media report in passing about what is happening in the region; information is given in strictly measured doses. And each story ends optimistically: “Everything is calm in Yamal. Animal vaccination is underway. The hot spots have been extinguished. The problem is practically solved."

How things really stand in the region, what people in Yamal are worried about and why the tragedy could not be avoided - in our material.

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“The anthrax bacterium travels with the air into the lungs, and from there into the lymph nodes, which become inflamed. Symptoms of anthrax: Initially, the patient has a high fever, chest pain and weakness. After several days, shortness of breath and decreased oxygen levels in the blood appear. Once in the lungs, the anthrax pathogen quickly spreads throughout the human body. A cough with blood often appears, an x-ray may show the presence of pneumonia, and the patient’s body temperature often rises to 41 degrees. Pulmonary edema and cardiovascular failure occur, and as a result, cerebral hemorrhage is possible.”

“The deer died quickly, within a few hours.”

Here is what representatives of the Yamal administration write on social networks: “There is no epidemic in Yamal. Quarantine was introduced locally; the borders of the district for the entry and exit of people are not closed. The sanitary and epidemiological condition of the place of temporary stay of people removed from the quarantine zone is under the supervision of sanitary doctors; in medical institutions - initially sensitive facilities - the level of security control, disinfection and access has been strengthened. The vast majority of nomads from the quarantine territory are healthy, but receive preventive treatment from Yamal doctors.”

According to the latest data, 90 people with suspected dangerous infection have been hospitalized in Yamal. Twenty have been diagnosed with anthrax. Three children were also infected, the youngest of whom is not even a year old. According to some reports, three people died - two of them children. All those hospitalized are nomads who grazed deer 200 kilometers from the village of Yar-Sale. As a result of mass mortality, 2,500 deer were killed. It was animals that became carriers of infection.

The entire Yamal tundra has today become a quarantine zone. 250 military personnel and special equipment from Moscow and Yekaterinburg arrived here. It is necessary to vaccinate the surviving deer, disinfect the territories and dispose of the carcasses of dead deer. They will be burned. Only high temperature can kill anthrax.

Families of reindeer herders were transported to nearby villages

Investigative Committee employees are now finding out whether anthrax was detected in the region in time.

However, even good news does not reassure residents of villages nearby the contaminated zone. People are packing their things and moving to Salekhard. Those who have nowhere to escape from a sinking ship spray their house with bleach every day and stock up on masks. Entertainment public events in the region have been cancelled.

“Children walk around with swollen necks, but the authorities are silent about this”

The capital of the Yamal region, which was beset by disaster, is the village of Yar-Sale. The infection zone is located 200 km from the village.

A native resident of the village, Elena, is going to wait out the hot season in Salekhard with relatives.

“In the stores of Yar-Sale, we have gone crazy - all the venison and semi-finished products from the 2015 slaughter have been taken away,” says the woman. “People understand that there will be no slaughter this year, so we will be left without meat. Picking berries and mushrooms was also prohibited. Those who have already pickled mushrooms for the winter and made jam are advised to dispose of everything. All our garbage dumps are now filled with jars of compote and jam.

They banned the export of meat, deer skins and fish from our villages. They say on TV that the outbreak has been localized, but this is not true. The death of deer is still observed in different places, for example, in Pangody, but they are silent about it.

The number of anthrax patients, according to our data, is increasing every day. A 12-year-old child who died of an ulcer still cannot be buried. After all, he cannot be buried according to the traditional customs of the Nenets, he must be cremated. But the parents are against it. As a result, the body was covered with bleach, and the morgue employees are waiting for the mother’s consent for cremation.

Vaccinations are also not given to everyone who wants them. Only those who come into contact with sick people and help dispose of the carcasses of dead animals in the tundra are vaccinated.

But there has already been a rumor that from August 6 they will begin to vaccinate all residents of the village. But the deer that did not have time to become infected seem to have all been vaccinated. Although this should have been done earlier. But the nomads gave up on these rules. For which they paid.

The plague of all the reindeer herders who were in the danger zone was burned. Personal belongings were disposed of. The women and children of the tundra inhabitants were transported to safe areas. Those who categorically refused to leave their homes were given new plagues in a clean camp and given antibiotics.

You understand, deer is life for the Nenets. This includes clothing - malitsa, yagushka, kitties, and food, and means of transportation, and housing: they make plagues from deer skin. This is how these people lost everything in a few weeks,” the interlocutor adds. - Those nomads who were not diagnosed with anthrax were isolated from society just in case. They were temporarily placed in boarding schools, under lock and key.

A friend of mine works with infected nomads. She told me that tundra dwellers take antibiotics. The dishes from which they eat are carefully treated with chlorine. Add 160 bleach tablets to 10 liters of water. The employees of the institution themselves do not take off their masks and gloves.

According to her, nomads feel bad under normal conditions for us. Now they are fed porridge, thin soup, and pasta. But they cannot live without meat and fish! Their body does not accept any other food other than venison. I heard that some people vomit from such food.

They also try not to let them out into the streets. But some still come out somehow. Children walk them. Many of my neighbors have already begun to quit their jobs and move to big cities so as not to expose themselves to danger. Most villagers take their children away from here, to relatives.

Among the dead tundra dwellers are a grandmother and grandson. “Two members of a family of reindeer herders, a 75-year-old grandmother and a 12-year-old grandson, died from ulcers. The boy, when he was still alive, said that he drank blood and ate fresh deer meat,” said employees of the village administration. The villagers do not know the details of the life of this family. They say that the nomads did not communicate with them much. And they visited the village once every six months, stocked up on food in bulk so that it would last for 5-6 months, and went back.

“I heard that deaths continue in the area of ​​the Yuribey bend and in the area of ​​the Lata Mareto River,” the woman continues. - Locals say that children walk there with swollen necks, and the dogs are all swollen too. Swollen necks are swollen lymph nodes - one of the symptoms of anthrax. But for some reason they are silent about this.

But Elena’s neighbor, Nadezhda, is more optimistic.

I trust the local media. If they say that the situation has stabilized, the deer have been vaccinated, they have been moved to a safe place, then it is so. All patients are in the Salekhard hospital. My friend said that there are 48 people in the infectious diseases department with suspected ulcers. Riot police are on duty at the hospital around the clock. Entrance is only with passes, so we have nothing to fear in the village.

They brought us healthy reindeer herders who need somewhere to stay until their homes are restored. The people left without plague and livestock settled in our first-aid post; there are about 60 of them there. I understand that officials will do everything possible to prevent a scandal.

All plagues of nomads that were in the contaminated area were disposed of

In fact, anthrax came to the region not on July 16, as all the media are trumpeting, but much earlier. The tundra dwellers themselves told us that the first deer died on July 5th. The reindeer herders then called the district administration, but they ignored their calls. Then the nomads had to contact the district center. This was exactly on July 17th. By that time, the mortality rate was about 1,000 deer.

“The reindeer herder walked for four days to report the trouble”

Men in Yar-Sale have a philosophical attitude to what is happening: come what may.

Alexander from the village of Yar-Sale told how he sees the situation.

I'm not too worried about not eating meat next year. Considering that there were 700,000 deer in the area, about two thousand died, I think such a problem should not arise. But who will the tundra dwellers sell this venison to? There are hardly any people willing to try it.

The area also banned the sale of deer antlers, which people bought as interior items. The export of these products is also strictly prohibited. Employees of housing and communal services management companies wash the entrances of houses with bleach every day. I think I’ll treat my home over the weekend, just in case.

All the cafes in the village have been closed, the restaurant is still open, but they say it won’t last long. Discos and public celebrations were cancelled. There is no public transport in the village, so there is nothing to cancel. Buses are still operating in Salekhard. But passengers are carefully checked - you cannot export or import meat, fish, berries, mushrooms.

Could the tragedy have been avoided? And is it the fault of the authorities that anthrax came to Yamal? Nikolai from Salekhard, who regularly travels around reindeer herding villages, told us a story that the media preferred to keep silent about.

When a slight loss of livestock began, the tundra dwellers decided that the reindeer were getting sick from the heat. This July the weather was atypical for our region - it reached 38 degrees.

Here is a message that spread across social networks from nomads (a screenshot has been preserved): “Near Lake Yaroto there were 12 plagues in the camp, 1,500 heads of deer died, and dogs died. Everywhere there is stench, rot, stench. Children developed boils. People are not being taken out, the authorities are not providing any assistance, and they are keeping silent about it. The authorities became aware of our trouble a week ago, but they are doing nothing. Soon people in the tundra will begin to die. Please help me publish. Save people."

The message remained unheeded.

But now representatives of the Yamal region administration claim that the author of the message is an ordinary troll.

“It’s all due to ordinary negligence,” continues Nikolai. - Reindeer herders have been looking for the head of the Yamal region for a long time. But the administration told them that he was in the tundra with the reindeer herders. But none of the administration representatives were seen there. District officials arrived only a couple of weeks later, when the loss of livestock had already become widespread, amounting to more than 1,000 heads.

Those who were there say the picture resembled a horror movie about zombies. The entire camp is littered with animal corpses. The deer died quickly, within a few hours. They just fell and continued to barely breathe for some time. People were walking around, many were already sick by that time, they could barely move, they were shivering. That's when local officials realized that the matter was getting serious, but they tried to correct the situation on their own. Did not work out. And our governor asked for help from higher authorities.

And only after that help came. All structures were involved: the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Health, and veterinarians from nearby regions were sent to the site.

Judging by word of mouth, it is still far from complete elimination,” continues Nikolai. - In those places, the water in lakes and streams is contaminated, people are afraid that groundwater will flow into the Ob and there is a possibility of contamination of the large water and its fauna. But, as scientists on the spot say, this cannot be.

The authorities also report that a general practitioner was allegedly with the people at the camp since July 22. There was no doctor there, according to my information. The air ambulance arrived to them only on the 23rd. And the doctor was brought to the camp on July 24. During all this time, birds of prey and animals pecked at the corpses. Well, the deer have fallen, in ten years he will restore his herd. But the fact that the number of infected people there could exceed a hundred is scary.

- Surely no one will buy venison now?

Even many locals say they won't eat venison for at least a couple of years. But there is a risk that some poachers, not knowing about the ulcer, cut up dead carcasses, sawed off antlers, skinned them and managed to take out a certain amount. Now the local authorities are looking for everyone who did this in order to destroy what they managed to take away.

- Is deer meat expensive?

It costs from 180 rubles. up to 280 rub. for 1 kg. Reindeer herders sell for 180 rubles, state farms - for 250–280.

The entire Yamal tundra has today become a quarantine zone

The words of my interlocutor were partly confirmed by the Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova, who urgently arrived in the region. She said that the infected area could be wider than previously reported: “It all started with one outbreak, a very small one. But then, over a period of time, new outbreaks were identified; today there are several of them.”

Infectious disease experts recognized that the bacteria were spread by deer and animals that ate the corpses of those who died from the disease, as well as by birds and insects. The radius of infection can be up to hundreds of kilometers from the source. However, experts say that the animals could not have gone far.

“After I visited the contaminated zone, they burned all my personal belongings and money”

Representative of the Yamal district administration Ravil Safarbekov, as best he can, reassures people on social networks. Here are some of his messages.

“Now everyone is working hard: doctors, veterinarians, scientists, the Yamal government, the district administration, public organizations, volunteers, etc. Many don’t sleep for days, eating on the go.

Russian institutes and laboratories have joined in solving the problem. The situation is constantly changing, new data is coming. To prevent the spread of infection, the quarantine zone has been expanded, which means it is necessary to relocate even more families of reindeer herders to clean places. Epidemiologists prohibit the movement of personal belongings - which means that every family needs new plagues, 100% equipped.

New personal belongings, new sledges, new clothes - not a single reserve fund of the district, which was empty in a couple of days, will be able to handle this. Please help!

“The governor confirmed that all the largest fuel and energy companies have joined in the work - they are providing equipment, helicopters, specialists, large sums of money to purchase necessary things and aid.”

“Tundra dwellers who are in a boarding school are relatively healthy, however, there is reinsurance.”

“I myself was in the contaminated zone. After the visit, they burned all my personal belongings and money. He barely asked not to touch the equipment, camera, cell phone, which was in the backpack until the end of the flight. They were treated with chlorine and other liquids and given away. I personally went through thermometry, washing, and receiving new things. Not a single person who has been in the infection zone will be allowed in.”

Ravil Safarbekov also explained the reason for what happened.

“I'm no expert, but scientists say the wild heat thawed the canker spores. When I flew between the hearths, I saw Nenets cemeteries (Nenets traditionally place the coffin on the surface of the ground, they do not bury it). So there is an assumption that the burials thawed under the month-long heat. There is also a version that the places where deer died from ulcers thawed out in the Middle Ages. Then there were few people and deer, and they left the dead places, leaving the corpses in place. There was nowhere to go. The heat gave the bacillus carte blanche: it settled in the deer, killed it and, perhaps, through soil or meat, moved into people.”

Rescuers in Yamal were vaccinated in advance and work in special protective clothing

Meanwhile, the deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor criticized the actions of the Yamal authorities to prevent an anthrax outbreak. Nikolai Vlasov said that reindeer herders had no way to report deaths, and veterinarians learned about the anthrax epizootic five weeks after it began. Vlasov also pointed out that the largest outbreak poses a huge danger for future generations, because it will not be possible to dispose of the carcasses of deer in a timely manner.

What happened in Yamal is an unprecedented case. And the main mistake of the authorities is the lack of universal vaccination of deer.

In 2007, vaccination of deer against anthrax was canceled in the Yamal tundra. The Veterinary Service of the Yamal District reported: this was due to the fact that the virus is simply not able to survive in the northern climate. The safety of the animals was then confirmed by scientists from Moscow...

MEANWHILE

On August 2, the authorities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug prohibited the export of meat, antlers and skins of deer from the area where the anthrax outbreak occurred. The regional government clarified that there is no slaughter of deer at this time of year in Yamal. And all residents of the region are urged not to buy meat at spontaneous sales points. So far, more than 2,300 animals have died from the ulcer virus, and a quarantine has been introduced in the area.

Meanwhile, in one of the capital's stores selling venison, they explained to us that, regardless of the situation in the district, all game coming for sale undergoes a veterinary examination twice. The first time was still at the slaughter site.

In addition, the batch that comes to us is checked at the veterinary station to which we are attached,” the store explained. - There the meat is checked for all possible viruses. Or we may receive venison that has already been heat-treated, and therefore disinfected. But in any case, the last time we were supplied with meat was in the fall. And after the epidemic there was no supply, and we don’t know when there will be.

For residents of Yamal, Knowledge Day will be remembered not only for the start of the new school year, but also for the end of the quarantine announced at the end of July in connection with the anthrax outbreak in the autonomous region. The day before, the governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Dmitry Kobylkin, informed members of the Russian government about the elimination of the terrible emergency in the Arctic region and made a number of proposals on this matter. The chronology of the fight against anthrax and its consequences for the Arctic region is in the FederalPress material.

The head of Yamal, Dmitry Kobylkin, took part in a meeting of the government commission on biological and chemical safety of Russia, held the day before in Moscow, chaired by the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, Veronika Skvortsova. Captain Arctic, as reported in the press service of the head of the autonomous region, did not limit himself to a report on the successful elimination of the anthrax outbreak in the region and addressed members of the Russian government with a number of initiatives for the future. But first, we suggest you remember how events developed.

On July 25 of this year, a strict quarantine was declared in the Yamal region after receiving test results from Moscow laboratories, which confirmed the worst suspicions of local veterinarians about an anthrax outbreak. The research concerned the unexpected and massive death of domestic reindeer (about 1200 heads) of three herds in the Yamal region. At that time, there were 389 people and 5,200 deer in the emergency zone. The outbreak zone, together with the “green zone,” occupied an area of ​​110 by 115 km. Almost 130 thousand doses of vaccine for people and over 700 thousand doses of vaccine for animals were promptly delivered to the region. In the very first days, it was possible to stop the death of deer and the spread of the disease among residents of the district.

The situation was taken under personal control by the President of Russia and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. Representatives of federal structures of the Ministry of Health, Rospotrebnadzor, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Labor came to the aid of Yamal specialists. A government profile commission and regional headquarters were created. In total, about a thousand people took part in the operation to eliminate the anthrax outbreak, and 35 units of military equipment were involved.

The source of infection was eliminated by specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological defense unit of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RKhBZ RF Armed Forces). For example, a transport IL-76 of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia with specialists from the Ural Training Rescue Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on board took off to the scene of events from the Balandino airport in the city of Chelyabinsk. “For three weeks, we provided all the necessary assistance in eliminating the consequences of anthrax and the death of deer,” reported the press center of the Chelyabinsk State Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. “We were engaged in the installation of life support camps, as well as comprehensively ensuring the safety of people who were being removed from the quarantine zone.”

Initially, 97 people were taken to the Salekhard district hospital: 56 children and 41 adults. The diagnosis of anthrax was made to 25 tundra dwellers. Unfortunately, a 12-year-old boy who was hospitalized died at the end of July. Today, one child is waiting to be discharged from the Salekhard clinic. All other tundra dwellers were taken to clean areas of traditional residence.

The forces of the military personnel of the Central Military District, together with other departments, destroyed about 2.5 thousand dead animals, treated the soil and property of the reindeer herders, as well as people and equipment. Subsequent studies took more than 350 samples from all carriers, but they did not identify the causative agent of anthrax. In total, about 13.5 thousand people have been vaccinated in the district (almost a thousand have undergone chemoprophylaxis) and 340 thousand deer. The first stage of vaccination has been completed, the second stage will take place until September 16. From 2017, vaccination of deer in Yamal will become mandatory and annual.

It turned out that since 1941 there have been no such serious precedents in the zone, which since 1968 was considered free from this infection. The head of Yamal made an unexpected statement to everyone, speaking to media representatives at one of the press conferences.

“Actually, this all happened before! But in 2007, for some reason—still unclear, probably—science said that this infection cannot live in our soil in Yamal. Most likely, this was the reason for stopping reindeer vaccination. Neighboring regions continued to be vaccinated: Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Komi, Nenets. And for some reason, having the largest herd in the world, we decided that we did not need to vaccinate the deer,” said Dmitry Kobylkin. – It’s not clear. We are currently studying the documents. Moreover, this was a vaccine for federal money; Yamal would not have spent any money. In my opinion, a mistake was made in 2007, a very serious one.”

Today, the Yamal authorities have directed all their efforts to help the residents of the region. The district government decided to purchase deer for the victims at the expense of the autonomy budget. We also note that the amount of charitable assistance to the victims amounted to tens of millions of rubles.

“Money is received daily from fuel and energy enterprises, commercial and public organizations, district entrepreneurs and residents of our region. There are organizations and entrepreneurs who provide all possible assistance not in financial terms, but with things that people need now, construction materials,” said Deputy Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Director of the District Department of International and Foreign Economic Relations Alexander Mazharov.

At the initiative of residents of the Autonomous Okrug, collection points for humanitarian aid to tundra dwellers from the Yamal region were opened in several municipalities. “The help was serious. This should be especially noted, because things arrived, both clean and wearable right away, even ironed. People responded with all their hearts,” noted Tatyana Moshkina, Deputy Director of the Salekhard Center for Social Services for Elderly Citizens and Disabled People.

Despite the loud and unpleasant event, the export market of Yamal delicacies did not suffer. And even more than that, the export of Yamal venison to Europe may double. Thus, Finland intends to increase purchases of venison in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Plans for the 2016-2017 season are 800 tons, according to a telegram sent to the government of the Autonomous Okrug. As the governor's press service explained, the importing company is satisfied with the measures taken to eliminate the consequences of anthrax.

In the near future, Yamal is expecting a visit from specialists from Sweden who have experience in combating anthrax and are ready to provide consultations on the safety of reindeer herding products. In November, the region’s partners from Germany will discuss with the government of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug a new project for the supply of Yamal venison to Europe.

“The meat will not be contaminated. Vaccinated animals are safe. They are not susceptible to disease. But purely psychologically, I understand that the industry will suffer image damage. We will switch to deep processing, producing stewed meat, for example. Foreign contracts have not yet been interrupted. It will depend on Finland and Norway how they react to this. We will work more carefully on product quality. Over the years, of course, everything will be restored,” the governor of the autonomy expressed confidence.

Taking into account the work carried out to eliminate the consequences of the emergency situation, Dmitry Kobylkin sent a number of proposals to the Government Commission for consideration and decision-making. “In particular, Yamal, faced with a direct threat in practice, asks to accelerate the adoption of veterinary rules for the identification and registration of animals, for the maintenance of animals; to clarify clinical recommendations for providing medical care to patients with anthrax. The district also asks to clarify the list of groups subject to vaccination and vaccination schedules for epidemic indications; to resume production of anti-anthrax immunoglobulin in Russia,” noted the press service of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug government.

Over the past 40 years, scientists have observed a clear warming of the climate in the northern hemisphere and in particular in the Arctic. Thus, the anthrax outbreak was a consequence of an abnormally hot summer in the region. Representatives of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced this to representatives of the Yamal media at the end of August in Salekhard.

“It was established that the cause contributing to the emergence of anthrax was the activation of old soil foci due to abnormally high air temperatures and thawing of the soil to a depth exceeding the usual level. The massive death of animals is due to the transmissible transmission of the pathogen by blood-sucking insects,” said the study by a team of scientists led by Doctor of Biological Sciences Yuri Selyaninov.

“The epidemic in the Yamal region confirmed the need for further development of transport infrastructure in the Arctic. It was thanks to the presence of a railway line to Bovanenkovo ​​that the Ministry of Defense was able to quickly transfer special troops and equipment to the source of anthrax and prevent the rapid spread of the disease. The consequences could have been much more serious, even leading to infection of neighboring regions - the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Komi Republic. The regional, local and federal levels of government were able to quickly work out the topic,” political scientist Kirill Istomin commented on the current situation to FederalPress. - Today, the main thing is the restoration of the traditional way of life and way of life of nomads who were taken out of the quarantine zone and lost all their property. 90 million rubles have been allocated from the district budget for this, but if the arrangement of housing, household items, clothing can be solved quickly, then in the matter of restoring the herd, not only the means are important, but also the approach - the correct selection of deer in the herd, their correct distribution throughout the territory. And here there will be a new amount of work for local and regional authorities.”

“This has never happened in the Russian Federation - neither in terms of scale nor in the complexity of carrying out such an operation. Nobody was ready for this. Of course, all services, in terms of their professionalism, worked at the highest level. But the coordinating role itself - we have not yet observed or seen such a body in Russia. But according to the forms by which we, governors, are trained, we did not consider such a bacteriological threat. Therefore, I think that after this incident certain changes in legislation and regulations will be adopted,” said the head of the region, Dmitry Kobylkin.

Photo from the official website of the authorities of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops arrived in Yamal, 200 people in total. Their task is to eliminate the consequences of the anthrax outbreak in the Yamal tundra. Before heading to the contaminated zone, military personnel underwent a medical examination and mandatory vaccination.

The head of the military State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision of Yekaterinburg, Pavel Davydov, said: “the vaccine used for specific prevention has been approved for use in the RF Armed Forces for the prevention of anthrax, and has repeatedly proven its effectiveness in areas of epidemic morbidity; its effectiveness was 95 percent.”

The military has 30 units of special equipment at its disposal. Army planes delivered preparations for disinfection of territories from the Samara region. Helicopters will ensure the rapid transfer of people. The deployment point is the area of ​​the Vladimir Naka station of the Obskaya - Bovanenkovo ​​railway. Meanwhile, the quarantine introduced in the Yamal region on July 25 continues to apply. All this time, specialists from relevant departments worked there.

Mass death - the first message about this came to the administration of the Yamal region from the village of Factoria Tarko-Sale. Private reindeer herders reported that more than 60 reindeer died in their herd. This was just the first wake-up call. Later, reports of the death came from private reindeer herders grazing their herds in the area of ​​Lake Yaroto.

« This is north of Lake Yaroto, northern shore of Lake Edwanto. It is difficult to count there, whether near the plague or in the tundra - it is difficult. They counted about 200 heads.", said Deputy Head of the Yamal District Administration Yuri Khudi.

To find out the reasons for the death, representatives of the administration and veterinarians immediately flew to the tundra. They carried out all the necessary actions in such a situation. Tissue samples were taken from the dead animals for further analysis. The suspected cause of death is heatstroke.

But everything turned out to be much more serious. Death in the herds continued. And then the laboratory announced the diagnosis: anthrax.

At the first camp, the picture is not for the faint of heart. Hungry calves do not leave their dead mothers. There is only one way out - to take the rest of the herd to a safe distance, make a corral there and urgently vaccinate the animals. Materials for the pen, which is usually carried by deer, are delivered by helicopter.

The camp is different - the picture is the same. Veterinarians unload the vaccine, shepherds collect plagues to leave dangerous places.

Vyacheslav Khritin has been here before. The first time was when a mass death was reported. Once it became known that the cause of death of the animals was not heat, but anthrax, experts assumed that the deer, looking for food in an area of ​​thawed permafrost, stumbled upon the corpse of a long-dead animal.

Only powerful equipment can dig reliable cattle burial grounds; it has already been sent to the emergency site. The Yamal region has been declared a sanitary quarantine zone. Children and women were taken from the camps. Most were taken to the Yarsala hospital. 32 people, most of whom were children, were sent to the Salekhard hospital.

“An individual approach is provided to each child, everyone receives specific treatment. Infectious disease doctors are treating patients. The mothers of the children who are caring for them are being monitored dynamically - they also receive antibacterial therapy,” said Irina Lapenko, head of the infectious diseases department of the Special Clinical Clinical Hospital.

Resident of the Yamal region Irina Salinder: “ The baby feels fine; when they arrived by helicopter, her temperature rose. Now he seems to be feeling fine, his temperature has dropped».

The situation is under control. The head of the region, Dmitry Kobylkin, promised the necessary support to reindeer herders and their families; he personally met with patients from the Yamal tundra.

« Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Agriculture provided us with specialists - 4 from one department and 4 from another. Experienced people, people who almost every year in one or another part of Russia face such diseases and problems"- said the Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitry Kobylkin.

They tried to localize the anthrax outbreak in every possible way. The infection affected three reindeer herds, killing more than one and a half thousand heads. It will take time to understand the real reasons for what happened. But there are several versions.

Meanwhile, urgent vaccination of animals was organized in the herds. The issue with the vaccine for people has also been resolved; it was delivered to Yamal this week. Valuable cargo - 1000 doses of anthrax vaccine - was delivered from Moscow. The first in line for vaccination are reindeer herders and specialists working in the infection zone. Those who were at the epicenter of events initially will first have to complete drug therapy.

The last time an outbreak of this disease, dangerous for both animals and people, was recorded on the territory of Yamal in 1941. And since 1968, the district has been officially included in the list of “anthrax-free” territories of the USSR. To personally assess the situation, the chief sanitary doctor of Russia, Anna Popova, arrived in the district. She stated that all necessary sanitary measures were taken by the authorities on time, and prevention will continue. The situation will be monitored daily.

Shepherds with their herds were taken away from the infection zone to a safe distance to the areas of fish lakes, and all reindeer herders in the Yamal region were notified of the current situation. The nomads and their families who found themselves at the epicenter of events were provided with prompt assistance.

Everyone is involved in helping the nomads - the district authorities, public associations, and simply caring fellow countrymen.

Control over deer herds has been strengthened throughout the district. Death cases were also noted in the Gydan tundra. The picture is the same - the animals began to weaken and fall, but the shepherds considered the reason for this to be the intense heat and long marches. However, veterinarians immediately flew to the area of ​​the death. They examined the dead animals and took samples of biomaterials from them.

With the onset of cool weather, the situation in the Gydan tundra stabilized. Meanwhile, the research results came. The local deer do not have anthrax.

The reindeer herders of the Purovsky district are also relatively prosperous. Vaccination of animals began there. But not from anthrax, but from the subcutaneous gadfly. Because of the heat and fires, the local deer also suffered, the tundra dwellers complain.

The heat has receded. Vaccination of surviving animals in the Yamal region has been completed. After such vaccination, they no longer carry the danger of spreading anthrax, veterinarians say. In the tundra, preparations for the disposal of dead animals are in full swing. Experts from the mainland joined in solving the problem. Even in the 21st century, the problem of eliminating the consequences of an epizootic is considered one of the most difficult. Yamal needs to simultaneously solve two different problems - to ensure the safety of nomads and to preserve as much as possible the pastures of the world's largest herd of reindeer.

The anthrax outbreak in Yamal was the result of a reform in the 2000s, when anti-epizootic measures began to be supervised by the regions. This opinion was expressed by the deputy head Rosselkhoznadzor Nikolay Vlasov. A video with the official’s comment was posted on the department’s website.

In Yamal, the diagnosis of anthrax was confirmed in 20 people

20 nomads from the Yamal tundra have been diagnosed with anthrax. Information about this was announced today at a press conference of the chief freelance specialist of the Ministry of Health for infectious diseasesIrina Shestakova ()

Irina Shestakova: Yamal residents became infected with anthrax by eating deer blood and meat

According to Shestakova, this is the main cause of the disease. The grazing deer ate the grass, onto which the pathogens came from the ground, and became infected ()

In Yamal - the first victim of anthrax: a child died.

The authorities of the peninsula have officially confirmed death from a terrible infection ()

The authorities of the peninsula have officially confirmed death from a terrible infection ()

Russian infectious disease specialists assessed measures to counteract anthrax

In Salekhard today, August 2, a press conference was held with the chief freelance specialist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Irina Shestakova and the chief freelance epidemiologist of the YANAO Health Department Lyudmila Volova ()

For the third week in Yamal they have been fighting anthrax, which has “awakened” in the Arctic region for the first time since 1941. In just a few days, more than 2.3 thousand deer died from a deadly infection in the tundra. Animals, in turn, infected people. On Monday, the first victim became known: doctors were unable to save a 12-year-old boy. Another 23 residents of the tundra, whose terrible diagnosis was confirmed, are now receiving intensive treatment. A total of 90 tundra dwellers, including 53 children, were hospitalized with suspected infection. The country's best doctors and scientists arrived to help local doctors. The region is doing everything to stop the infection, which has already consumed millions of budget rubles and caused enormous damage to nomads.

Troops were brought in

It seems that the Yamal reindeer herders have not yet had time to properly recover from the disaster before last year, when almost 60 thousand reindeer died in the tundra, and now there is another mass pestilence. The regional government promised to compensate the tundra dwellers for their losses, but the amount has not yet been announced. Only one thing is clear: the current outbreak will cost a considerable amount to the budget. The winter before last, when deaths occurred due to lack of food, the region spent more than 31 million rubles on emergency measures alone - the delivery of veterinary drugs, feed, salt, and fuel. Another nearly 300 million was reportedly spent on carcass disposal.

This time the dead population is much smaller, but the situation itself is much more complicated. After all, the main thing is that the infection does not spread further. At the request of the head of the region, the Ministry of Defense sent radiation, chemical and biological protection units to the contaminated area - about 200 people in total. 30 units of special equipment, including all-terrain vehicles and helicopters, as well as more than 30 tons of special disinfectants were delivered to the quarantined zone.

A cleanup operation on such a scale and at such a distance from populated areas in the Arctic tundra is being carried out perhaps for the first time in the world. Carcasses are destroyed directly on site, without being collected in heaps, in order to avoid contamination of the soil. As Yaroslav Roshchupkin, an official representative of the Central Military District, said, they are burned using old tires and “heavy” oil products, because anthrax spores die only at very high temperatures.

The region also urgently had to purchase a thousand doses of vaccine for the population. A lot of it was also needed for animals. This week, authorities decided to vaccinate deer in neighboring territories - an additional 200 thousand doses will be delivered there in the coming days.

The regional government has not yet even ventured to guess how much the fight against infection will ultimately cost. The main thing now is that the death rate was stopped

The regional government has not yet even ventured to guess how much this will ultimately cost. The main thing now is that the death rate was stopped. Officially, only one figure has been announced so far: this week 90 million were allocated from the district budget to restore the traditional way of life and way of life of nomads who were taken out of the quarantine zone.

As the head of the press service of the governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Nadezhda Noskova, explained, about a hundred new tents will be equipped for reindeer herders with these funds. The nomads evacuated urgently: according to quarantine rules, they could not take anything with them. Now people are buying clothes, bedding, household belongings, and stoves.

The product will not be released

But whether the authorities will help tundra dwellers buy new deer is unknown. The relevant departments have not yet commented on this topic. Meanwhile, as Nikolai Vylko, a member of the board of the reindeer herders’ union of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the chairman of one of the communities, said, after the “hungry” pestilence, the nomads did not receive any money: the losses of the tundra dwellers were compensated with fuel and feed.

At that time compensation was not prescribed anywhere. Now people hope that they will be helped, including with money. In the new law on reindeer husbandry, recently adopted in Yamal, such a line appeared. However, there are no necessary by-laws yet. But we hope that due to the emergency situation they will be accepted promptly,” notes Nikolai Vylko.

For many years, according to him, in Yamal they have been discussing the need to insure the reindeer herd, but things have not gone further than talk. Tundra residents complain that the premiums are quite high and they simply cannot afford insurance without state support.

They definitely won’t be able to do this in the near future. Due to the quarantine imposed in the region, a ban was imposed on the export of products and raw materials of animal origin - any meat, skins. The sanctions are set for three months. Veterinary control and inspection have been strengthened at all airports, train stations, and river ports in the district. The Ural Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Transport warned: everything will be confiscated and destroyed. What will happen to enterprises and farms in this situation is unknown. The Yamal Oleni municipal unitary enterprise, which is the largest processor of venison in the region and exports products abroad, declined to comment on the situation. The regional government, in turn, believes that such enterprises will not suffer: at this time of year there is no slaughter of deer in Yamal, the meat received in the previous campaign has already been sold. The main thing is that residents and guests of the region do not suffer - they are now being persuaded not to buy venison at spontaneous markets. Heads of municipalities are instructed to identify and close unauthorized points of sale. Residents of the region are also asked to refrain from collecting wild plants, because the ulcer is insidious: spores of the infection may end up in the ground.

Lichen cover is the ecological framework of Yamal. If it disappears, the glacier underneath will begin to melt. We're not far from an environmental disaster here.

Meanwhile, by order of the head of the region in Yamal, the campaign to collect antlers, from which all kinds of medicinal preparations and dietary supplements are prepared, has also been completely stopped. The harvesting season for this valuable raw material in Yamal traditionally falls on July-August. Right now should be the peak of the harvest. Many nomads, as well as intermediaries, expected to make decent money. Last year, thanks to the jump in the dollar, the price of antlers, which are mainly exported, doubled - to two thousand rubles per kilogram. Those who keep large herds could make several million by selling the horns. This money would be enough for the nomads to last the whole year.

It's time to curb your appetites

Some experts believe that what has been happening in the tundra in recent years is predictable. There have never been so many deer in Yamal before. Now the largest herd in the world is grazed here - almost 700 thousand heads. Just 30-40 years ago, the capacity of local pastures was almost doubled, but now there’s nothing to say. Some areas of the tundra have turned into desert: instead of the traditional moss and reindeer moss, they have sand. The animals don't have enough food. Restoration of the cover knocked out by deer occurs only after two to three decades, and only if this place is not disturbed. Director of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Bogdanov, has repeatedly said that mortality in 2014 was inevitable, because animals go into winter without fat reserves. Trimming antlers causes additional stress to deer. Healthy and strong individuals survive temporary hunger and bad weather relatively easily, while weakened individuals have little chance.

The ecosystem suffers no less. Lichen cover is an ecological framework for Yamal. If it disappears, the glacier underneath will begin to melt. It's not far from an environmental disaster. Perhaps the spores arose due to the increase in temperature.

There is only one way out, Vladimir Bogdanov believes: urgently to at least halve the herd. This is the only way to preserve nature and not lose animals. If reindeer herders continue to chase numbers, then collapse is inevitable. Nature itself will be forced to regulate the population.

Help "RG"

Initially, it was believed that the cause of the death of reindeer in Yamal was heat stroke: there was abnormal heat in the region for a month. Later it turned out that the trouble was caused by anthrax. Experts believe that the source could be the thawed place of the long-ago death of a sick animal, which deer stumbled upon in search of food. According to Rospotrebnadzor of the Russian Federation, during the last outbreak of this disease in 1941 in Yamal, 6.7 thousand deer died; the lion's share of the carcasses was not disposed of.

What about the neighbors?

Since the announcement of quarantine in Yamal, increased security measures have been taken in neighboring regions. Thus, in Ugra, where about 38 thousand deer are grazed, they began to vaccinate the population - primarily reindeer herders and veterinary service employees. 500 doses of anthrax vaccine were sent to the areas bordering the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. In addition, they check how isolated the cattle burial grounds are. The authorities believe that transmission of the infection from Yamal is unlikely: the distance from the quarantine area to the nearest reindeer herding camps in Yugra is more than 600 kilometers. In the Tyumen region, as the regional Rospotrebnadzor assures, the infection is not threatening either, but preventive measures have been taken here too. This week a meeting was held with representatives of local enterprises that purchase Yamal venison. A ban on the supply of raw materials was not introduced, because meat was brought to the region in March, long before anthrax was discovered, and the reserves will last for another month and a half. The situation is also being kept under special control in the Trans-Urals. As Tatyana Sandakova, head of the veterinary department of the Kurgan region, notes, there are 20 cattle burial grounds in the region. Now dangerous places are being treated, fences are being checked to prevent animals and people from entering their territory. All animals in the region, she said, receive regular vaccinations. Veterinarians hope the situation does not get out of control.