Rabies in the Republic of Kazakhstan: spatial and temporal characteristics of disease spread over one decade (2013-2022).

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease that remains endemic in Kazakhstan despite the implementation of annual vaccination campaigns. Using data collected over a 10-year time period, the objective of this study was to provide updated information on the epidemiological situation of the disease in the country, and quantitative data on the species-specific spatial distribution of rabies and on the epidemiological features associated with that clustering. Five significant (p < 0.05) clusters of disease were detected. Clusters in southern Kazakhstan were associated with companion animals, which are likely explained by the maintenance of a domestic cycle of the disease in the most densely populated region of the country. Livestock cases were most frequent in clusters in the eastern (where wildlife cases were also frequent) and western regions of Kazakhstan, with higher probability of occurrence in spring and summer, compared to the rest of the year. The results here are consistent with differential patterns for disease transmission in Kazakhstan and will contribute to the design and implementation of zoning approaches to support the progressive control of rabies in the country.

The progressive control of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Successes and challenges.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has historically caused far-reaching economic losses to many regions worldwide. FMD control has been problematic, and the disease is still prevalent in many West and Central Asia countries. Here, we review the progress made by Kazakhstan in achieving freedom from FMD and discuss some of the challenges associated with maintaining the FMD-free status, as evidenced by the occurrence of an outbreak in 2022. A combination of zoning, movement control, vaccination, and surveillance strategies led to eliminating the disease in the country. However, the circulation of the FMD virus in the region still imposes a risk for Kazakhstan, and coordinated strategies are ultimately needed to support disease elimination. The results presented here may help design effective pathways to progressively eliminate the disease in West and Central Asia while promoting the design and implementation of regional actions to support FMD control.

Mapping the risks of the spread of peste des petits ruminants in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a viral transboundary disease seen in small ruminants, that causes significant damage to agriculture. This disease has not been previously registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK). This paper presents an assessment of the susceptibility of the RK's territory to the spread of the disease in the event of its importation from infected countries. The negative binomial regression model that was trained on the PPR outbreaks in China, was used to rank municipal districts in the RK in terms of PPR spread risk. The outbreak count per administrative district was used as a risk indicator, while a number of socio-economic, landscape, and climatic factors were considered as explanatory variables. Summary road length, altitude, the density of small ruminants, the maximum green vegetation fraction, cattle density, and the Engel coefficient were the most significant factors. The model demonstrated a good performance in training data (R2  = 0.69), and was transferred to the RK, suggesting a significantly lower susceptibility of this country to the spread of PPR. Hot spot analysis identified three clusters of districts at the highest risk, located in the western, eastern, and southern parts of Kazakhstan. As part of the study, a countrywide survey was conducted to collect data on the distribution of livestock populations, which resulted in the compilation of a complete geo-database of small ruminant holdings in the RK. The research results may be used to formulate a national strategy for preventing the importation and spread of PPR in Kazakhstan through targeted monitoring in high-risk areas.

Revealing spatio-temporal patterns of rabies spread among various categories of animals in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2010-2013.

This study estimated the basic reproductive ratio of rabies at the population level in wild animals (foxes), farm animals (cattle, camels, horses, sheep) and what we classified as domestic animals (cats, dogs) in the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK). It also aimed at forecasting the possible number of new outbreaks in case of emergence of the disease in new territories. We considered cases of rabies in animals in RK from 2010 to 2013, recorded by regional veterinary services. Statistically significant space-time clusters of outbreaks in three subpopulations were detected by means of Kulldorff Scan statistics. Theoretical curves were then fitted to epidemiological data within each cluster assuming exponential initial growth, which was followed up by calculation of the basic reproductive ratio R0. For farm animals, the value of R0 was 1.62 (1.11-2.26) and for wild animals 1.84 (1.08- 3.13), while it was close to 1 for domestic animals. Using the values obtained, an initial phase of possible epidemic was simulated in order to predict the expected number of secondary cases if the disease were introduced into a new area. The possible number of new cases for 20 weeks was estimated at 5 (1-16) for farm animals, 17 (1-113) for wild animals and about 1 in the category of domestic animals. These results have been used to produce set of recommendations for organising of preventive and contra-epizootic measures against rabies expected to be applied by state veterinarian services.