Evidence of insufficient genetic data and lack of regular genetic research on rabies virus in the Russian Federation: a study of the recent epizootic situation.

This paper attempts to point out a disparity between keeping rabies epidemiological statistics and rabies virus sequencing in the Russian Federation. While data on rabies prevention and laboratory detection are duly gathered, virus sequencing efforts remain insufficient. Along with a lack of public information and mass vaccination campaigns for wildlife and pets, this also might have an impact on the current rabies situation, which is of high risk in Russia. Additionally, drawing on GenBank data, it is suggested that some isolated rabies variants might be circulating in the country.

[Comparative analysis of genetic variants of the HIV-1 circulating in the Irkutsk region in 1999 and 2012].

The pol and env genome regions of the HIV-1 genetic variants circulating in the irkutsk region of russia in 1999 and 2012 were compared. The results of this work showed the dominance of the HIV-1 subtype a IDU-A genetic variant (100%) in this region. No primary resistance mutations in the pol gene in the treatment-naive patients were found. The heterogeneity of the viral population was found to be significantly increased based on the pol and env analysis among HIV-variants isolated in 2012 (12.88% and 2.16%) from the intravenous drug users as compared to HIV-variants that caused the outbreak of the HIV infection in 1999 (1.64% and 0.47%). In addition, the comparison of genetic distances of the pol and env gene sequences in the viruses isolated in 2012 from the HIV-positive persons infected through heterosexual intercourse and intravenous drug use demonstrated that the transmission route influenced the variability of the virus population. Among the viruses of IDU-A variant circulating in the area in 2012 the prevalence of X4-tropic variants was 24.7%.

Analysis of the env gene variability of the IDU-A HIV-1 variant in the outbreak of the HIV infection epidemic in Perm region of Russia (1996-2011).

In the present work, a total of 132 HIV-1 env gene C2-V3-C3 sequences belonging to the IDU-A genetic variant were analyzed. The variants were obtained from the viruses circulating among IDUs and heterosexuals in the Perm region at different periods. It was shown that the rate of the divergence of the IDU-A HIV-1 viruses from a common ancestor increased 4.3 times (p < 0.001) in 2011 as compared with the onset of the epidemics. The rate of the HIV-1 evolution was different in the two risk groups of the infection. The mean genetic distance of HIV-1 variants circulating among heterosexuals was 1.3 times longer (p = 0.008) than that among IDUs. The accumulation rate of the nucleotide (including nonsynonymous) substitutions in the C2-V3-C3 HIV-1 env gene region among individuals infected by heterosexual contacts was 1.7 times higher than that among IDUs. The differences in the positions of the codons subjected to positive selection were demonstrated depending on the infection risk group tested.

[Rabies vaccines: Current status and prospects for development].

Rabies is an infectious disease among humans and animals that remains incurable, despite its longstanding research history. The only way to prevent the disease is prompt treatment, including vaccination as an obligatory component and administration of antirabies immunoglobulin as a supplement. Since the first antirabies vaccination performed in the 19th century, a large number of different rabies vaccines have been developed. Progress in molecular biology and biotechnology enabled the development of effective and safe technologies of vaccine production. Currently, new-generation vaccines are being developed based on recombinant rabies virus strains or on the production of an individual recombinant rabies antigen-glycoprotein (G protein), either as a component of nonpathogenic viruses, or in plants, or in the form of DNA vaccines. In this review, the main modern trends in the development of rabies vaccines have been discussed.