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 zone of infection, lost their homes and earnings. To eliminate the consequences, troops of radiochemical and biological protection, rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and doctors from the federal center were abandoned on Yamal.
What is happening in the region, the central media report in passing, the information is given strictly dosed. And each story ends optimistically: “Everything is calm in Yamal. Animals are being vaccinated. The hotbeds of danger have been extinguished. The problem is practically solved."
How things really are in the region, what people on Yamal are concerned about and why the tragedy could not be avoided - in our material.
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“The anthrax bacteria in the air enters the lungs, and from there to the lymph nodes, which become inflamed. Anthrax symptoms: Initially, the patient has a high fever, chest pain, and weakness. After a few days, shortness of breath and a decrease in the level of oxygen in the blood appear. Once in the lungs, the causative agent of anthrax quickly spreads throughout the human body. Often there is a cough with blood, an x-ray can show the presence of pneumonia, the patient's body temperature often rises to 41 degrees. There is pulmonary edema and cardiovascular insufficiency, as a result, cerebral hemorrhage is possible.
“Deer died quickly, in a few hours”
Here is what representatives of the Yamal administration write on social networks: “There is no epidemic in Yamal. The quarantine was introduced locally, the borders of the district for the entry and exit of people are not closed. The sanitary and epidemiological state of the place of temporary stay of people taken out of 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 area are healthy, but receive preventive treatment from Yamal doctors.”
According to the latest data, 90 people were hospitalized in Yamal with suspected dangerous infection. Twenty have been diagnosed with anthrax. Infected including three children, the youngest of whom is not even a year old. According to some reports, three people died - two of them children. All hospitalized are nomads who grazed deer 200 kilometers from the village of Yar-Sale. As a result of the mass death, 2,500 deer died. It was the animals that became carriers of the infection.
The entire Yamal tundra has now become a quarantine zone. 250 military and special equipment arrived here from Moscow and Yekaterinburg. It is necessary to vaccinate the surviving deer, decontaminate the territories and dispose of the carcasses of the dead deer. They will be burned. Only heat can kill anthrax.
Families of reindeer breeders were transported to nearby villages
Employees of the Investigative Committee are now investigating whether anthrax was detected in the region in time.
However, even good news does not calm the residents of the villages adjacent to the infected zone. People pack their things and move to Salekhard. Who has nowhere to run from a sinking ship, they clean the house with bleach every day and stock up on masks. entertainment public events canceled in the region.
“Children walk around with swollen necks, but the authorities are silent about this”
The capital of the Yamal region, which was overtaken by trouble, is the village of Yar-Sale. The infection zone is located 200 km from the village.
A native of the village, Elena, is going to wait out the hot season in Salekhard with her relatives.
In the stores of Yar-Sale, we have a rolling ball - all the venison and semi-finished products of slaughter in 2015 were dismantled, - the woman says. - People understand that this year there will be no slaughter, so we will be left without meat. Berries and mushrooms were also banned from picking. Those who have already salted mushrooms for the winter and made jam are recommended 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 is localized, but this is not true. The death of deer is still observed in different places, for example, in Pangody, only they are silent about this.
The number of patients with anthrax, according to our data, is increasing every day. A 12-year-old child who died of an ulcer still seems to be unable to bury. He can't be buried traditional customs Nenets must be cremated. But the parents are against it. As a result, the body was covered with bleach, the mortuary staff are waiting for the consent of the mother to be cremated.
Vaccinations are also not given to everyone. Only those who are in contact with the sick 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 still begin to vaccinate all the inhabitants of the village. But the deer that did not have time to become infected, like all of them were vaccinated. Although it should have been done before. But the nomads waved their hand at these rules. For which they paid.
The plagues of all reindeer herders who were in the danger zone were burned. Personal belongings were disposed of. The women and children of the tundra workers were transported to safe areas. Those who categorically refused to leave their homes were provided with new plagues in a clean camp and were given antibiotics.
You understand, a deer for the Nenets is life. This is clothing - a malitsa, a frog, kitties, and food, and a means of transportation, and housing: they make plagues from deer skins. So in a few weeks these people lost everything, - adds the interlocutor. - Those nomads who did not have anthrax were isolated from society just in case. They were temporarily settled in boarding schools, under lock and key.
My friend works with infected nomads. She said that the tundra people take antibiotics. The dishes from which they eat are carefully treated with chlorine. 160 tablets of bleach are put into 10 liters of water. The employees of the institution do not take off their masks and gloves.
According to her, the nomads feel bad under normal conditions for us. Now they are fed with porridge, liquid soup, pasta. But they can not live without meat and fish! Their body does not perceive other food, except for venison. I heard that some people turn out from such food.
And they try not to let them out on the street. But some still come out somehow. Their children are walking. Many of my neighbors have already begun to quit their jobs and leave for big cities so as not to endanger themselves. Most of the villagers take their children away from here, to relatives.
Among the dead tundra dwellers are a grandmother and a grandson. “Two members of the family of reindeer herders died from an ulcer, a 75-year-old grandmother and a 12-year-old grandson. The boy, when he was still alive, said that he drank blood and ate fresh deer meat,” said the 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. Yes, and they visited the village once every six months, stocked up on wholesale products to last for 5-6 months, and left back.
I heard that the case continues in the area of the Yuribey bend and in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Lata Mareto River, the woman continues. - The locals say that the children go there with swollen necks, the dogs are all swollen too. Swollen necks are swollen lymph nodes - one of the symptoms of anthrax. But for some reason they keep silent about it.
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 true. All patients are in the Salekhard hospital. My friend said that there are 48 people in the infectious diseases department with suspected ulcers. The hospital is on duty around the clock. Entrance is by pass only, so we have nothing to fear in the village.
Healthy reindeer herders were brought to us, who need somewhere to turn over until their dwellings 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 infected zone 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 fell on July 5th. The reindeer herders then called the district administration, but they ignored their calls. Then the nomads had to turn to the district center. It just happened on July 17th. By that time, the death rate was about 1000 deer.
“The reindeer breeder walked for four days to report the trouble”
Men in Yar-Sale are philosophical about what is happening: come what may.
Alexander from the village of Yar-Sale told how he sees the situation.
I'm not really worried about not eating meat next year. Considering that there were 700,000 deer in the region, about two thousand died, I think this problem should not arise. But to whom will the tundra people sell this venison? It is unlikely that there will be those who want to try it.
Also in the area it was forbidden to sell deer antlers, which people bought as a piece of furniture. The export of this product is also strictly prohibited. Employees of housing and communal services management companies daily wash the entrances of houses with bleach. I think I'll work on my housing on the weekend, just in case.
All cafes in the village were closed, the restaurant is still open, but they say it won't last long. Discos and mass celebrations have been cancelled. There is no public transport in the village, so there is nothing to cancel. Buses are still allowed in Salekhard. But passengers are carefully checked - you can not export and 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 the reindeer herding villages, told us a story that the media preferred to keep silent about.
When a slight loss of livestock began, the tundra people decided that the deer had become sick from the heat. This July, the weather was atypical for our region - it reached 38 degrees.
Here is a message that spread through social networks from nomads (a screenshot has been saved): “Near Lake Yaroto in the camp of 12 chums, 1,500 deer heads died, dogs died. Everywhere stench, decay, stench. The children had boils. People are not taken out, the authorities do not provide any assistance, while they are silent about it. The authorities became aware of our trouble a week ago, but they do nothing. Soon people will start dying in the tundra. Please help post. Save people."
The message went unheeded.
But now representatives of the administration of the Yamal region claim that the author of the message is an ordinary troll.
It's all the fault of ordinary negligence, - continues Nikolai. - Reindeer breeders have been looking for the head of the Yamal region for a long time. But in the administration they were told that he was in the tundra with reindeer herders. But none of the representatives of the administration were seen there. District officials arrived only a couple of weeks later, when the loss of livestock had already become massive, there were more than 1,000 heads.
Those who were there say that the picture looked like a horror movie about zombies. The whole camp is littered with the corpses of animals. Deer died quickly, in 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 hardly move, they were shivering. It was then that local officials realized that the matter was getting serious, but tried to correct the situation on their own. Did not work out. And our governor asked for help from higher authorities.
And only then did help come. All structures were connected: the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Health, veterinarians from nearby regions were sent to the place.
Judging by the word of mouth, it is still far from complete elimination, - continues Nikolai. - In those places, 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 large water and its fauna. But, as scientists on the spot say, this cannot be.
The authorities also report that, allegedly, since July 22, a general practitioner has been with people at the camp. There was no doctor there, to my knowledge. Air ambulances only arrived on the 23rd. And the doctor was brought on July 24 to the camp. During all this time, birds of prey and animals pecked at the corpses. Okay, the deer fell, in ten years he will restore his herd. But the fact that the number of people infected there can exceed a hundred is scary.
- No one will buy venison now, right?
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, butchered dead carcasses, cut down antlers, skinned 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 out.
- Is deer meat expensive?
It costs from 180 rubles. up to 280 rubles for 1 kg. Reindeer breeders sell for 180 rubles, state farm - for 250-280.
The entire Yamal tundra has now 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 may be wider than previously reported: “It all started from one outbreak, very small. But then, for a certain time, new foci were revealed, there are several of them today.”
Infectionists admitted: 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 infected zone, they burned all my personal belongings and money”
The representative of the administration of the Yamal region Ravil Safarbekov, as he can, reassures the people in social networks. Here are some of his posts.
“Now everyone is working hard: doctors, veterinarians, scientists, the Yamal government, the district administration, public organizations, volunteers, etc. Many do not sleep for days, eat on the go.
Institutes and laboratories of Russia joined in solving the problem. The situation is constantly changing, new data comes. In order to prevent the spread of infection, the quarantine zone has been increased, which means that it is necessary to relocate even more families of reindeer herders to clean places. Epidemiologists forbid the movement of personal belongings - which means that every family needs new plagues, 100% equipped.
New personal belongings, new sleds, new clothes - none of the reserve fund of the district, which was empty in a couple of days, could handle this. Please help!"
"The governor confirmed that all the largest fuel and energy companies have joined the work - they are providing equipment, helicopters, specialists, large sums of money for the purchase of necessary things and means of assistance."
“The tundra workers who are in the boarding school are conditionally healthy, however, reinsurance is underway.”
“I myself was in the infected zone. After the visit, they burned all my personal belongings, money. He barely begged me not to touch the equipment, camera, cell phone, which was in my backpack until the end of the flight. They were treated with chlorine and other liquids and given away. Personally passed thermometry, washing, getting new things. Not a single person who has been in the zone of infection will be allowed through.”
Ravil Safarbekov also explained the reason for the incident.
“I'm not an expert, but scientists say the wild heat thawed the canker spores. When I flew between the hearths, I saw Nenets cemeteries (the Nenets, by tradition, put the coffin on the surface of the earth, they don’t bury it). So there is an assumption that the burials thawed out under the monthly heat. There is also a version that the places where deer died from an ulcer in the Middle Ages thawed out. 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 deer, killed and, perhaps, through the soil or meat moved into people.
Rescuers in Yamal have been vaccinated in advance and work in special protective clothing
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Rosselkhoznadzor criticized the actions of the Yamal authorities to prevent an anthrax outbreak. Nikolay Vlasov stated that reindeer herders had no opportunity to report the case, and veterinarians learned about the beginning of the anthrax epizootic five weeks after it began. Vlasov also pointed out that the largest outbreak poses a huge danger to future generations, because it will not be possible to dispose of deer carcasses in time.
What happened in Yamal is an unprecedented event. And the main mistake of the authorities is the lack of universal vaccination of deer.
In 2007, deer vaccination against anthrax was canceled in the Yamal tundra. The veterinary service of the Yamal region said: this was due to the fact that the virus is simply not able to survive in the conditions of the northern climate. The safety of animals was confirmed then by scientists from Moscow ...
MEANWHILE
On August 2, the authorities of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region banned the export of meat, antlers and skins of deer from the area where there was an outbreak of anthrax. The regional government clarified that there is no deer slaughter at this time of the 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 the area itself has been quarantined.
In the meantime, in one of the metropolitan stores selling venison, we were told that, regardless of the situation in the district, all game entering the market undergoes a veterinary examination twice. The first time - still at the place of slaughter.
In addition, the batch that comes to us is being tested at the veterinary station to which we are attached, the store explained. - There the meat is checked for all possible viruses. Or we can receive venison that has already undergone heat treatment, which means that it is disinfected. But anyway last time meat was delivered to us in the fall. And after the epidemic, there was no import, and we don’t know when it will be.
Soldiers burn down reindeer herders' homes Epidemic report delayed for five weeks
Units of biological defense troops are being transferred to Yamal to fight the largest outbreak of anthrax, Ura.ru reports. Now 250 soldiers are already working in the region, who burn the corpses of dead animals and the property of reindeer herders in the contaminated area. The borders of this territory are equipped with sanitary checkpoints with the condition of disinfection during passage.
At the same time, new tents for reindeer herders are being built in the clean zone. Airplanes of the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrive in Salekhard, delivering rescuers and things for arranging temporary housing for reindeer herders. They brought In addition, the planes brought 40 thousand signs warning of the danger of infection and fuel supplies for burning corpses and plagues.
Anthrax was officially announced in Yamal on 25 July. On August 1, the press service of the Okrug Governor reported that eight Yamal nomads, including three children, had been diagnosed with anthrax. Later, the district government confirmed the death from anthrax of a 12-year-old teenager. On August 2, 90 people, including 54 children, were already in hospitals in Yamal with suspected anthrax.
Anthrax bacilli. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009
The epidemic in the region began after the death of one and a half thousand deer in the Yamal region. Scientists have established that the cause of death of animals was anthrax. Later, another 600 deer died in the Tazovsky district. According to the latest data, a total of 2349 deer died from anthrax in the Yamal region, and another 4.5 thousand are in the danger zone.
Five weeks of silence
“The report on anthrax in Yamal was five weeks late,” said Nikolai Vlasov, deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor. He criticized the actions of the Yamal authorities to prevent an outbreak of anthrax. “YNAO is not the poorest region, but veterinary care for animals is not good, very weak. Veterinarians learned about the beginning of the anthrax epizootic five weeks after it began. Reindeer herders without a reliable connection, one of them, in order to notify about the emergency, walked for four days across the tundra on foot, ”says Vlasov. The official added that everything that is happening in the region now "looks like they are guarding the airport after a terrorist attack."
Nikolai Vlasov pointed out that the largest outbreak hides a huge danger for future generations, because it is not possible to dispose of deer corpses in time: “Now you need to burn 150 corpses a day. Before they are burned, they will lie for 20-30 days.” The situation is complicated by the fact that animal burial grounds cannot be made in the tundra, since “in the permafrost, the pathogen will be like in a refrigerator.” And the rapid burning of corpses is difficult due to the lack of roads, which delays the transport of combustible materials.
Screenshot from YiuTube, 2016 The deputy head of the Rosselkhoznadzor emphasized that "non-vaccination of animals is the choice of the subjects of the Federation." In his opinion, the leadership of the region leave anthrax as a legacy "for future generations - all this will be conserved no one knows how long."
On August 2, Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova flew to Yamal. The next day, she, together with Governor Dmitry Kobylkin, visited the infected territories, where she communicated with the sick. Now the head of the Ministry of Health is undergoing a course of antibiotic therapy. “In order for the vaccine to work, you need to wait a few days - this is the same incubation period, which is from 3 to 7 days, the master explained. - I didn’t have such an opportunity, but when I examined the patients, I was in the right anti-epidemic outfit, with gloves, boots, a mask, and so on. Nevertheless, all the doctors who work with patients are now on chemoprophylaxis."
Infectious delicacies
Due to the outbreak of anthrax in Yamal, hunting, picking mushrooms and berries are prohibited. “The infection came from the soil, so it can manifest itself somewhere with a mycelium. The danger, given the presence of pestilence fields, it exists. We discussed wild plants with doctors and with the authorities of the subject, we also need to take definitely restrictive measures. We will not be lost without these mushrooms, but we will live with normal health,” said Vladimir Shevkoplyas, director of the Veterinary Department of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. The infection can be spread by insects, birds, and scavengers eating deer that have fallen from the disease.
Meanwhile, experts fear that reindeer meat from Yamal contaminated with anthrax could be distributed throughout the country. This opinion "URA.Ru" was expressed by the President of the International Counter-Terrorism Association Joseph Linder.
“Today, it is necessary to put all efforts to ensure that the meat of deer that have become ill with anthrax is not sold,” Linder is sure. - After all, as it happens with us - unscrupulous businessmen are ready for a penny, on the cheap, to buy this meat, and then put it on sale. This life-threatening product must not be allowed to enter stores and restaurants.”
Meditations, 2006 He recalled that now in the anthrax outbreak zone will be clogged great amount deer. “It is necessary to set up cordons, involve the forces of the FSB, the prosecutor's office, Rospotrebnadzor so that the infected meat does not go beyond the region. Otherwise, we risk facing a catastrophe,” warned the president of the International Counter-Terrorism Association. According to him, it is also necessary to “catch” the meat that was given for sale before the official start of the outbreak in Yamal.
Deadly weapon
The last time an anthrax outbreak was registered in Yamal was 75 years ago. The source of this infection are domestic animals: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs. Infection can occur when caring for sick animals, slaughtering livestock, processing meat, as well as through contact with animal products (skins, skins, furs, wool, bristles) contaminated with anthrax spores.
Infection can also occur through the soil, in which the spores of the anthrax pathogen persist for many years. Spores enter the skin through microtrauma; when contaminated products are consumed, an intestinal form occurs. The high lethality of the pulmonary and intestinal forms, as well as the ability of the spores of the pathogen to remain viable for many years, are the reason for the use of anthrax bacilli as a biological weapon.
William Rafti, 2003 The largest epidemic of this disease occurred in 1979 in Sverdlovsk. Since then, there have been regular small outbreaks of the disease. So, in August 2012, an outbreak of anthrax with fatal cases was recorded in the Altai Territory - in the village of Marushka and the village of Druzhba.
In August 2010, an outbreak of anthrax was recorded in the Tyukalinsky district Omsk region. The epidemic began with the death of horses on a private farm, which the owners did not report. Dead animals were not even properly buried. As a result, at least six people fell ill, of which at least one - 49-year-old Alexander Lopatin - died.
Another causative agent of deadly epidemics that regularly reminds of its presence is the plague. On July 12, a ten-year-old boy with bubonic plague was taken to the hospital of the Kosh-Agachsky district of the Altai Republic. The child was admitted to the infectious diseases department of the district hospital with a temperature of about 40 degrees. The boy was cured. Specialists found out that he was in contact with 17 people, of which six were children. All of them were placed in isolation, but none of them, fortunately, got sick. Health workers suggested that the boy could have contracted the plague in a parking lot in the mountains. It is noted that in the region the disease was recorded in marmots.
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that has claimed more human lives in history than all other diseases combined. Despite all the advances in medicine, it is impossible to completely get rid of the plague, since the causative agent of the disease - the bacterium Yersinia pestis - lives in natural reservoirs, where it infects its main carriers - marmots, ground squirrels and other rodents. These reservoirs exist all over the world and it is unrealistic to destroy them all.
The woodchuck is a carrier of the plague. ablasko, 2012 How smallpox was defeated
In addition, rumors of smallpox cases regularly arise in Russia, although World Organization health authorities have officially declared the disease eradicated. However, rumors, as a rule, are not confirmed, and one of the last outbreaks of smallpox was recorded in Moscow in the fifties of the last century. He tells about her:
He was vaccinated today at the 13th polyclinic (she was transferred from Neglinnaya to 19c1 Trubnaya Street, by the way, a long time ago). While they were waiting for their sister, the doctor, an elderly but cheerful, bright-eyed aunt, told a story about a smallpox epidemic in Moscow in the 50s.
I found it on Wiki, I pass it on here:
In the winter of 1959, we got into a bad story. Moscow artist Kokorekin visited India. He happened to be present at the burning of a deceased Brahmin. Having accumulated impressions and gifts for his mistress and wife, he returned to Moscow a day earlier than his wife was waiting for him. He spent these days with his mistress, to whom he gave gifts and in whose arms he spent the night not without pleasantness. Having predicted the arrival of the plane from Delhi in time, he arrived home the next day. Having given gifts to his wife, he felt unwell, his temperature rose, his wife called an ambulance and he was taken to the infectious diseases department of the Botkin hospital.
The senior surgeon on duty Alexei Akimovich Vasiliev, in whose team I was on duty that day, was summoned for a consultation to Kokorekin in the infectious diseases department, with a view to imposing a tracheostomy on him due to respiratory disorders. Vasiliev, having examined the patient, decided that it was not necessary to impose a tracheostomy and went to the ambulance. By morning the patient became heavy and died.
The pathologist who performed the autopsy invited the head of the department, Academician Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kraevsky, to the sectional hall. An old pathologist from Leningrad came to visit Nikolai Alexandrovich, he was invited to the section table. The old man looked at the corpse and said - Yes, my friend, variola vera - smallpox. The old man was right.
Reported to Shabanov. The Soviet health care machine started spinning. They imposed a quarantine on the infectious diseases department, the KGB began to track Kokorekin's contacts. The story was revealed with his early arrival in Moscow and the night of bliss with his mistress. As it turned out, the wife and mistress behaved in the same way - both ran to the thrift stores to hand over gifts. There were several cases of smallpox in Moscow, which ended in death. The hospital was closed for quarantine, it was decided to vaccinate the entire population of Moscow with smallpox vaccine.
There was no vaccine in Moscow, but it was on Far East. It was bad weather, the planes did not fly. Finally the vaccine arrived and vaccination began. I endured it very hard, I did not have immunity against smallpox, although I was vaccinated in 1952, when an epidemic of smallpox began in Tajikistan, abandoned from Afghanistan in the traditional way - carpets were thrown across the border on which patients with smallpox were lying.
Update: I found the details here. It turns out that the ill-fated Kokorekin was present not only at the burning of the Brahmin, who definitely died of smallpox, but also the Brahmin's hut. And I thought - how did he manage to get infected, how? After all, before burning, the body is wrapped in several layers of cloth, and the high temperature of the fire should have killed all the vibrios. But the vibrio is “resistant to the influence of the external environment, especially to drying and low temperatures. It can persist for a long time, for a number of months, in crusts and scales taken from pockmarks on the skin of patients ”(wiki). In that hut there were millions of scales of skin and dust with vibrios - and became infected.
And it was after this incident and thanks to the USSR that a program was adopted to eradicate smallpox throughout the world. In the wild forests of India, pictures of people with smallpox were shown to the tribes. So they rooted it out!
The first victims of anthrax appeared in Yamal - the infection caused the death of a 12-year-old child. Eight more tundra dwellers who found themselves in the zone of anthrax were diagnosed, and just over 200 people are in quarantine. About what happened in Yamal and what anthrax is for modern man, epidemiological experts told MedNovosti.
On Monday, it became known about the death of a 12-year-old child infected with anthrax. According to the press service of the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the sick boy from the focus of a dangerous infection was sent to the Salekhard district hospital. He was ill with an intestinal form of anthrax, which is difficult to diagnose.
Another eight residents of Yamal, who found themselves in the zone of occurrence of anthrax, were diagnosed. All of them receive intensive treatment. In relation to other tundra dwellers from the quarantine zone and the territories closest to the outbreak - and there are 211 of them - preventive measures are being taken. There are 72 people in the Salekhard hospital, including 41 children.
According to official data, 2.3 thousand deer died from anthrax in the region, the infection from which was transmitted to people. Now, thanks to the prompt vaccination of healthy deer in the tundra and the treatment of sick ones, the death of animals has practically stopped.
Expert epidemiologists told MedNovosti about what happened in Yamal and what anthrax is for a modern person.
Elena Volchkova: “It is impossible to get anthrax in your kitchen”
Elena Volchkova, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, PMSMU named after I.I. THEM. Sechenov. Photo: Azj.rus4all.ru
As explained by the Department of Infectious Diseases of the First Moscow State Medical University. Sechenov, Professor Elena Volchkova, since anthrax is a natural focal disease, it cannot be completely eradicated. The bacteria themselves Vasillaceae quickly die under the influence of factors environment, but the spores are very resistant to these factors and can persist for decades in soil and for years in water. And if the natural reservoirs of accumulation of anthrax spores are violated, then both an animal and a person can become infected with this infection. Now in Yamal, as a result of abnormal heat, natural foci have opened up and, possibly, old burials have come to the surface. And the deer that ate the reindeer moss growing there fell ill.
Most often, cattle and livestock are the first to fall ill; anthrax is transmitted to humans mainly by contact. You can become infected when slaughtering and butchering a sick animal, during processing or any other contact with its skin. First of all, the hands that come into contact with the infection suffer. However, any wound on the skin, including on the legs, can become the entrance gate for infection. That is why you should not once again walk barefoot through unknown meadows and fields, in the soil of which a source of natural focal disease can accumulate and multiply. In general, it is always worth trying to protect the skin whenever you are in nature, because there are still a lot of other dangers - from ticks to blood-sucking insects that carry many infections.
What happens when you get infected and is there a cure for anthrax?
When infected with anthrax, reddening of the skin initially appears, then a bubble forms at the site of the spot, which bursts and an ulcerative lesion appears. After about a week, the skin lesion takes the form of a carbuncle. And all this against the background of a temperature reaction, general malaise, weakness.
This so-called skin form illness. Theoretically, it can be confused with another skin disease. But, since isolated cases of the disease are very rare, and outbreaks of infection in humans immediately follow outbreaks in animals, the correct diagnosis is established quickly enough. The cutaneous form of anthrax is well treated with modern antibiotics, especially with timely hospitalization. In addition, detoxification of the patient's body is carried out, immunoglobulins are used, and general therapy is prescribed. If untreated, mortality is 10-20%.
The so-called generalized form infection that occurs as a result of entering the human body with infected meat, or by airborne droplets (during the same processing of skins and wool). The generalized form, in which the entire body suffers, can also develop with the skin form of the disease, if the infection enters the bloodstream. But, as a rule, skin forms begin to heal quickly, and the possibility of their generalization is unlikely. But the initially generalized forms are really very severe and their mortality, especially without treatment, can reach 90-95%.
There is no danger for the inhabitants of central Russia and Siberia today. Maps of animal burial grounds have been preserved and are under protection. True, sometimes people themselves provoke problems when, not knowing that there were burials on these lands, they begin their unauthorized development, intensive private construction. Theoretically, in addition to cattle burial grounds, former farmland or grazing areas can pose a danger a large number animals. It is impossible to get anthrax in your kitchen. The main thing is in no case to buy untested meat in unknown outlets, along the roads, that is, wherever there is no sanitary supervision. Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous livestock owners who, in the event of an animal illness, quickly slaughter it and drag it for sale.
Mikhail Shchelkanov: “The monitoring system for cattle burial grounds should work like clockwork”
Mikhail Shchelkanov, Head of the Laboratory of Virological Research, Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Primorsky Territory. Photo: Ok.ru
As the professor of the Far Eastern Federal University(FEFU), Mikhail Shchelkanov, head of the virological research laboratory of the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Primorsky Territory, the emergency in Yamal provoked an extremely hot summer, due to which one of the old forgotten deer burial grounds thawed and opened.
In conditions permafrost already extremely tenacious anthrax spores can remain in alkaline soil for more than a hundred years. Moreover, being well preserved in a natural refrigerator - a half-meter soft “pillow” of reindeer moss and various dead plants located above the ice - anthrax can periodically germinate, forming new spores. When the temperature rises, bacteria can melt out of the permafrost layer - and this is the most dangerous option.
Fortunately, due to the low population density, the outbreak in Yamal was quickly contained. Of course, this required serious efforts by local specialists, who had to be thrown into the tundra by helicopters, but there was no need to take any measures on a national scale. It would have been much more difficult in a more densely populated region or in the case of intensive transport links between this territory and the European part of the country. And then it turned out such a natural quarantine.
When and where the ill-fated burial ground was created, it is impossible to say - this is information for official use. Moreover, even the localization of the place of death of animals in the case of anthrax is classified information. Because the same bioterrorists can go there in hot pursuit and collect deadly material. But the conclusion from the situation is obvious: the monitoring system of animal burial grounds should work like clockwork. And if in some regions there seems to be a situation of epizootic well-being for some infections (that is, there is no threat of the spread of this or that infection among animals), this is no reason to relax.
Anthrax is called anthrax because the vast expanses of Western and Eastern Siberia- these are one of the most intense epizootic and, as a result, epidemic (if there is contact with a person) natural foci of this disease. Just like the northern territories of the country. Large herds of animals graze here. And if, God forbid, a case occurs, giant burial grounds appear, which must be strictly controlled. But there is no one to do this. Yes, and in general it's like a burial radioactive waste- no matter how reliable protection you set up, sooner or later there will be a leak.
Therefore, it is better not to arrange burials, but to debug the system of burning the carcasses of dead animals. Veterinarians have such capacities, but they are simply not enough in the event of a mass death. This means that mobile incinerators and purposeful investments in this are not so big. And we will have enough problems with the old burial grounds for many years to come.
“Literally in May, we held a conference at FEFU, at which one of my students, a guy from Uzbekistan, made a report on this topic,” Shchelkanov said. - I thought it was very important, because in Central Asia a lot of forgotten burial grounds. But I did not imagine that we also have such burial grounds in the North, about which we do not know everything. And one of them worked."
Specialists of the troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection, a total of 200 people, arrived in Yamal. Their task is to eliminate the consequences of an anthrax outbreak in the Yamal tundra. Before leaving for the infection zone, the servicemen underwent a medical examination and mandatory vaccination.
Pavel Davydov, head of the military Gossanepidnadzor of the city of Yekaterinburg, said: “The vaccine used for specific prevention was approved for use in the RF Armed Forces for the prevention of anthrax, and has repeatedly proven its effectiveness in foci of epidemic disease, its effectiveness was 95 percent.”
At the disposal of the military - 30 units of special equipment. Army planes delivered from Samara region preparations for disinfection of territories. Helicopters will ensure the rapid transfer of people. The point of deployment is the area of the station named after Vladimir Naka railway Obskaya - Bovanenkovo. Meanwhile, the quarantine introduced in the Yamal region on July 25 continues to operate. All this time specialists of profile departments worked there.
Mass death - the first message about this was received by the administration of the Yamal region from the village of Factoria Tarko-Sale. Private reindeer herders reported that more than 60 reindeer had died in their herd. It was only the first alarm call. Later, a case was reported from private reindeer herders grazing their herds in the area of Lake Yaroto.
« This is to the north of Lake Yaroto, the northern shore of Lake Edvanto. It is difficult to count there, what is near the plague, what is in the tundra is difficult. They counted about 200 heads.”, - said Yuri Khudi, deputy head of the administration of the Yamal region.
Representatives of the administration and veterinarians immediately flew to the tundra to find out the reasons for the death. They have done all the necessary actions in such a situation. Tissue samples were taken from dead animals for further analysis. The cause of death is believed to be heat stroke.
But everything turned out to be much more serious. The loss in the herds continued. And then the laboratory reported the diagnosis: anthrax.
At the first camp - the picture is not for the faint of heart. Hungry calves do not leave 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 paddock, which is usually pulled 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, I've been here before. The first time was when a mass death was reported. As soon as it became known that the cause of death of the animals was not the heat, but anthrax, experts suggested that the deer, in search of food in the area of thawed permafrost, stumbled upon the corpse of a long-dead animal.
Only powerful equipment can dig up 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 Yarsalinsky hospital. 32 people, most of them children, were sent to the Salekhard hospital.
“An individual approach is provided to each child, everyone receives specific treatment. Patients are managed by infectious disease specialists. For the mothers of children who are with them for care, dynamic monitoring is carried out - they also receive antibiotic therapy, ”said Irina Lapenko, head of the infectious diseases department of the SOKB.
Irina Salinder, a resident of the Yamal region: “ the baby feels fine when they arrived by helicopter, she had a fever. Now, it seems, he feels normal, the 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 Agriculture they gave us specialists - 4 from one department and 4 from another. Experienced people, people who almost every year in this or that part of Russia face such diseases, problems”, - said the Governor of the YNAO Dmitry Kobylkin.
Everyone tried to localize the outbreak of anthrax possible ways. The infection affected three deer herds, more than one and a half thousand heads died. It will take time to understand the real reasons for what happened. But there are several versions.
In the meantime, urgent vaccination of animals was organized in the herds. The issue with the vaccine for humans has also been resolved; it was delivered to Yamal this week. A 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, which is 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 territories of the USSR “clean” from anthrax. To personally assess the situation, Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor Anna Popova arrived in the district. She stated that all the 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 to a safe distance from the zone of infection to the areas of fish lakes, all reindeer herders of the Yamal region were notified about the situation. The nomads and their families, who found themselves in the epicenter of the events, received prompt assistance.
Everyone participates in helping the nomads - the district authorities, public associations, and simply caring fellow countrymen.
Control over deer herds has been strengthened throughout the district. Cases of death were also noted in the Gydan tundra. The picture is the same - the animals began to weaken and fall, but the shepherds considered the strong heat to be the reason for this and long transitions. Nevertheless, veterinarians immediately flew to the area of the case. 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. In the meantime, the research results came in. The local deer do not have anthrax.
The reindeer herders of the Purovsky district are also relatively prosperous. The vaccination of animals began there. But not from anthrax, but from the subcutaneous gadfly. Because of the heat and fires, the local deer also got it, the tundra people complain.
The heat receded. Vaccination of surviving animals in the Yamal region has been completed. They no longer bear the danger of spreading anthrax after such a vaccination, veterinarians say. Preparations for the disposal of dead animals are in full swing in the tundra. Experts from big land. 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 tasks - to ensure the safety of nomads and to preserve as much as possible the pastures of the world's largest herd of reindeer.
Twenty cases of anthrax have been confirmed, Irina Shestakova, chief freelance infectious disease specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health, has just announced. In the evening, the Minister of Health clarified: 23 cases. People were taken out of the outbreak and are in the infectious diseases department in Salekhard.
More than 2,000 deer died. This is a small part of the total population. The total number of the Yamal herd ranges from 700 thousand to a million heads on calving days.
One child could not be saved. He had a form of the disease that is almost untreatable. On Saturday he was brought, on Sunday morning the boy was gone.
It was rumored that his grandmother had died of anthrax a few days earlier. The infectious disease specialist comments: doctors don’t know what caused a woman born in 1937 to die in the tundra. This happened a few days before the discovery of the outbreak. Whatever the cause, experts work it out as if it were anthrax.
Sewage from the hospital through treatment facilities get into the Ob. Can the pathogen get into nature in this way?
This matter is strictly, strictly controlled. All waste products of patients and contacts are destroyed according to the rules. Rospotrebnadzor conducted research Wastewater at the exit from the hospital and at the exit from the treatment.
Purely.
The disease is almost never transmitted from person to person. The main route of infection is through sick animals and through contaminated soil.
The dead boy ate deer meat with blood. All patients were simply in the infected area, they have a cutaneous form, which is easier to tolerate. All contacts, about a hundred people, were also taken to the Salekhard hospital. They receive chemoprophylaxis.
Information for hunters. It is almost impossible not to notice that the animal is sick with anthrax: the disease proceeds rapidly, sometimes 3-4 hours. In any case, it is clear that the animal is sick.
There were rumors that it is not recommended to pick berries and mushrooms throughout Yamal. Spores live in the earth for a hundred years - this is confirmed by science. Maybe more. In the zone of infection, it is strictly forbidden to collect wild plants and mow grass. And although Salekhard is far from the danger zone, I will refrain from walking into the forest and any gathering.
It is impossible to be a carrier of anthrax. If the spores enter the body, the disease will manifest itself.
Vaccination started. From the "clean" zone, they move to the focus of the disease in order to localize it. The outbreak is located in the Yamal region. Every resident of Yamal can get vaccinated. But the infectiologist offers to be reasonable about vaccination.
It makes sense to vaccinate:
- if you are at risk (work with meat, animal skins);
- if you are planning a trip to a dangerous area in the near future.
In other cases, it doesn't make much sense.
Do not buy meat, fish, berries, mushrooms from your hands.
Anthrax is characterized by fever, skin ulcers, swollen lymph nodes. There are others less characteristics. If a disease is suspected, they immediately begin to treat with antibacterial drugs according to a special scheme in accordance with the international protocol.
Even if you were not in the infection zone, but found the slightest similar signs in yourself, in no case do not self-medicate. Run to the doctor!
The focus is also localized in herds. Not only the surviving deer from the affected herds have been vaccinated, but also in the vicinity for several tens of kilometers - a kind of safety cushion has been created.
Let me remind you that an outbreak of a dangerous disease was recorded in the Yamal region. The Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Defense, Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Health, and the veterinary service are involved in solving the problem.
