Governor of Yamal Dmitry Kobylkin introduced quarantine in the Yamal region. Reason - death of 1 thousand 200 deer, reported the press service of the head of the region.

Last week, from the Yamal tundra, it was reported that the reindeer could not cope with the abnormally high temperature. By the weekend, the most difficult situation was observed among private reindeer herders near the Tarko-Sale trading post and in the reindeer herding brigade nearby. Today, the total losses are 1,200 deer.

An analysis of the samples taken by the specialists of the working group from animals last week showed the cause of death of the animals: part of the death of deer is caused by anthrax spores. Working groups consisting of members of the government, city administrations went to find out the reasons for the incident. Animals were autopsied, samples were taken for analysis, tundra people were examined, and the necessary recommendations were given to reindeer herders. According to the results of complex analyzes, experts confirmed that the animals died both from the heat and from anthrax.

Experts emphasize - there is no threat to people all tundra dwellers have been thoroughly examined: all are healthy. Next to 63 reindeer herders is a doctor-therapist. All nomads from this camp will be relocated for vaccination. The helicopter has already been sent to the parking lot.

The probable cause of reindeer infection, according to experts, is the site of a long-standing death of a sick animal that was opened due to the heat. There are no cattle burial grounds in this area, but given the viability of the anthrax pathogen - 100 years or more, and its resistance to temperature changes - professionals suggest that deer, in search of food, stumbled upon the place of an animal that died from anthrax and then infected each other. Therefore, the local place of this grazing - the deer path - will be fenced off with special landmarks. Traditionally, local residents bypass these areas even after many years.

The bodies of the dead are disposed of. Healthy deer of the affected herd will undergo additional vaccination: the serum has been ordered and, most likely, will be delivered today from Moscow to Yamal. Facilities for cleaning up the places of death of animals will be allocated from the reserve fund of the district budget.

The governor of the district demanded that maximum precautions be taken for the health of specialists and nomads when carrying out activities under quarantine. On July 25, the issue of providing people with everything necessary was resolved. After determining the damage to the reindeer herders, the issue of compensation will be considered. Specialists of the veterinary service, departments of the agro-industrial complex, indigenous peoples of the North, and health continue to work in the region. The situation is under constant control.

Note that the last time an anthrax outbreak in Yamal was in 1941. In 2015, more than 480 thousand reindeer were vaccinated.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the focus of anthrax infection in the YaNAO has been localized. A 12-year-old teenager died. 90 people were hospitalized, vaccination of people and animals continues in settlements. To combat the consequences of the epidemic, additional army units have been deployed to the region, which are engaged in the destruction of fallen livestock and disinfection of the area. The ICR is conducting an investigation. "Lenta.ru" understood the causes and consequences of anthrax.

biological attack

On Tuesday, August 2, the Ministry of Defense reported on the build-up of an army group, eliminating the focus of anthrax in Yamal. During the day, the soldiers destroyed the remains of more than fifty deer, reports.

"The grouping of the Central Military District, which includes more than 200 military personnel, 19 units of special equipment, mobile laboratories, 4 Mi-8 helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, will be reinforced by another 50 specialists and 13 units of equipment from the radiation, chemical and biological protection units," - noted in the department.

Army specialists are transferred by military transport aircraft from Yekaterinburg to Salekhard.

Colonel Yaroslav Roshchupkin, assistant commander of the Central Military District, explained that the fallen cattle were being burned. At a temperature of 140 degrees, anthrax spores die. “They use old car tires, fire mixes and oil products,” he specified. - Upon completion, the soil is treated with disinfectant.

Monitoring of the area where the focus of the disease is localized is carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles.

In parallel with the military operation, law enforcement agencies are conducting a pre-investigation check. Employees of the Investigative Committee of Russia are investigating whether the outbreak of a dangerous disease was the result of a violation of veterinary rules.

The suspects in the TFR have not yet been reported, but most of all, the committee is interested in the activities of government agencies, whose powers include the timely detection of the disease and the suppression of its spread. And also by how quickly the evacuation of people from the focus of the epizootic began. Investigators collect and summarize all known circumstances.

“It has been previously established that in the tundra zone of the Yamal region since June 2016 there has been a mass death of deer of private livestock and the municipal reindeer herding enterprise,” they say in the administration of the TFR for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. “To date, more than 2,000 heads have died.”

In the diseased "dirty" zone, specialists take samples of soil, water, air, vegetation and insects for laboratory research. The evacuation and vaccination of people from nearby areas continues. Animals are being vaccinated.

In the hearth

There is no threat of anthrax spreading to other regions. This was reported to Lente.ru by the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova.

“The focus is localized. For people, there is no threat of further spread of the disease, but all epidemiological measures continue until all animals are vaccinated and until we are convinced of the complete safety of people in this territory,” she stressed.

Popova also said that 10 people were discharged from the infectious diseases hospital on Tuesday, August 2, who received antibiotic prophylaxis.

In total, ninety people were taken to the district hospital of Salekhard with suspicion of anthrax. More than half of them (54) are children.

“Of those who were not hospitalized, but were under medical supervision, there are 269 such people, 151 people successfully completed antibiotic prophylaxis,” the head of the supervisory agency concluded.

In total, as of August 2, out of 90 people admitted to the hospital, the diagnosis was confirmed in 20 patients, including eight children. During the day, there were no new calls with suspected anthrax, according to the YaNAO administration.

Rospotrebnadzor assures that the leakage of biomaterial from the infectious diseases department of the hospital in Salekhard, where patients with suspected anthrax and with a confirmed diagnosis are located, is excluded. To verify this, special studies were carried out by order of the department.

On the needle

The chief epidemiologist of Yamal, Lyudmila Volova, reported on the course of the vaccination campaign on Tuesday, August 2. “We started doing this from the “clean zone” towards the source of infection in order to prevent the spread of infection. All people who were in the outbreak receive preventive treatment, and three days after its completion, they will be vaccinated,” she explained.

The anthrax vaccine is given twice three weeks apart and should be repeated annually thereafter. Currently, 90 thousand vaccines have been delivered to the region for residents of the Yamal, Priuralsky, Tazovsky, Nadymsky districts of the district.

In total, half a million people live in the YNAO. According to Irina Shestakova, chief infectious disease specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health, there is no need to vaccinate everyone.

“It is one thing when you are really in an epidemiologically problematic area. Or if you expect to travel to such a zone in the near future, - says Shestakova. “If these are citizens who are outside this territory and do not come into contact with animals or materials received from them by the nature of their work and life, then I think that it is quite possible not to be vaccinated.”

There are victims

On August 1, it was reported that a 12-year-old teenager with a confirmed diagnosis of anthrax died in the Salekhard hospital. The administration of the YaNAO believe that the cause of death was the intestinal form of the disease. It develops after eating the meat of an infected animal.

Governor Dmitry Kobylkin ordered to restore the course of treatment of the deceased child every minute and provide his parents with all the necessary assistance.

Information spread in the media that the grandmother of this boy, with whom they ate together, also died of anthrax, but this was not confirmed by the district government.

“An elderly woman was also in the focus of infection. She passed away a week ago, but had nothing to do with the dead boy. Samples have been taken from her, but anthrax has not yet been confirmed, ”Nadezhda Noskova, head of the press service of the YaNAO governor, told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

tenacious bacillus

The spores of bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of the disease, are particularly viable and can last up to 200 years. The source of infection is most often cattle. The corpse of an anthrax animal infects the soil. The reindeer moss grown in such a plot is dangerous for other animals. The disease is not transmitted from person to person.

The latest outbreak of the deadly infection, according to experts, was facilitated by an unusually warm summer for the region. The air temperature in Yamal rose to 35 degrees. The permafrost thawed, and anthrax spores fell from the soil into the water.

Photo: Konstantin Chalabov / RIA Novosti

People most often become infected through direct contact with an infected animal: when cutting carcasses, through leather products and other animal products. But the disease can be transmitted through water and through the air.

Anthrax has been known under various names since antiquity. At the end of the 18th century, the Russian doctor Stepan Andreevsky assigned the modern name to it. The human vaccine was created in 1940 by Nikolai Ginsburg and Alexander Tamarin from the Sanitary and Technical Institute of the Red Army. The military needed medicine, since the Japanese tried to use anthrax spores as a bacteriological weapon in Manchuria.

In terms of the number of victims, the outbreak of infection in the spring of 1979 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) is considered the most severe. Then, out of 96 cases, 64 people died.

Until recently, the last victim of anthrax was considered to be a resident of the village of Druzhba in the Tselinny district of the Altai Territory. He died in August 2012. On average, no more than 11 cases of human infection with this infection are registered per year in the country.

The disease can occur in the pulmonary, skin and intestinal form. The incubation period is from several hours to 2-3 days. The cutaneous form is the most common. It is accompanied by inflammation of the lymph nodes and the formation of a carbuncle (acute purulent-necrotic inflammation with tissue necrosis). The pulmonary form is similar in symptoms to a cold and the pneumonia that follows it. Unlike skin, even with high-quality and timely treatment, death from it occurs in 50 percent of cases.

The intestinal form is considered the rarest - it was the boy who died in Salekhard who fell ill with it. At an early stage, it is difficult to identify - the symptoms are similar to food poisoning.

Of particular danger is the so-called generalized form of infection, in which the entire body suffers. Mortality in such cases, especially without proper treatment, reaches 90-95 percent.

What's next?

According to Professor Elena Volchkova, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, it is impossible to completely eradicate anthrax, since it is a natural focal disease, writes Medportal.ru. But the infection goes beyond the focus is extremely rare. As for artificial reservoirs, all cattle burial grounds are under the protection of authorized state structures. And here it all depends on the responsibility of officials.

There are, however, irresponsible cattle owners who, in the event of an animal's illness, try to quietly slaughter and sell it. So the human factor also plays a big role.

Mikhail Shchelkanov, professor at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) and head of the laboratory for virological research at the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Primorsky Territory, recalls that permafrost creates ideal conditions for the preservation of anthrax. Spores are preserved for a long time in a natural refrigerator.

The outbreak in Yamal was quickly contained due to the sparsely populated area and the inaccessibility of the area, which facilitated the creation of a natural quarantine. In the future, more active development and settlement of the region, the development of its infrastructure, new risks may arise. So far, the problem can only be stopped, but not solved.

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 preparations for disinfection of territories from the Samara region. Helicopters will ensure the rapid transfer of people. The point of deployment is the area of ​​the station named after Vladimir Naka of the Obskaya - Bovanenkovo ​​railway. 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 wake-up 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 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, problems”, - said the Governor of the YNAO Dmitry Kobylkin.

Anthrax outbreak tried to localize in every possible way. 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 humans, 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 and long transitions to be the reason for this. 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 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 tasks - to ensure the safety of nomads and to preserve as much as possible the pastures of the world's largest herd of reindeer.

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. Expert epidemiologists told MedNovosti about what happened in Yamal and what anthrax is for a modern person.

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 die quickly under the influence of environmental factors, but 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 farmlands or grazing areas for a large number of animals can be dangerous. 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 illness of an animal, 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

Mikhail Shchelkanov, a professor at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), head of the virological research laboratory at the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Primorsky Territory, said that the emergency in Yamal provoked an extremely hot summer, due to which one of the old forgotten deer burial grounds thawed and opened up.

In permafrost conditions, the 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 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. And in general, it's like with the disposal of radioactive waste - no matter how reliable protection you set up, sooner or later a leak will occur.

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 there are a lot of forgotten burial grounds in Central Asia. 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."

The number of people hospitalized from an anthrax outbreak in Yamal has increased from nine to 13 people, mostly children, local authorities say.

"Four more tundra workers from the Yamal tundra were taken to the Salekhard Clinical Hospital for additional examination and observation," TASS quoted the press service of the region's governor Dmitry Kobylkin as saying.

"The medical staff is conducting proactive treatment and is awaiting the final analysis of experts from Moscow. In parallel, children are being screened for other diseases," the ministry said.

It is noted that representatives of the YaNAO government and the district health department are in constant contact with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and relevant federal departments.

At the moment, more than 20 different specialists are working at the site of the outbreak, air sanitation is on duty around the clock. “At a distance of 80 km from the place, six 10-seat tents from the material reserve of the YNAO in case of emergency have already been deployed. First of all, women and children are transported to a safe place by helicopters. Some heads of nomadic families expressed their intention to stay to help veterinarians and sanitary specialists - no more than 10 people," the press service added.

It is also reported that 500 deer were vaccinated with the anthrax vaccine on Monday. "Today (specialists will work until late at night) 2.5 thousand heads will be vaccinated and tomorrow, July 27 - 1 thousand heads. Vaccination is carried out in a portable corral, which was delivered to the territory by helicopter the day before," the press service notes. In addition, places are being prepared for the disposal of fallen deer.

Anthrax outbreak recorded in Yamal for the first time in 75 years. To date, more than 1.5 thousand reindeer have died from it. Quarantine has been introduced in the Yamal region, the authorities assure that there is no threat to the population.

According to preliminary data from the authorities, the reason for the infection of the deer was an unusually warm summer. During the month, the Yamal was anomalously hot - up to 35 degrees above zero. " The thawed tundra contributed to the manifestation of the source of infection- the remains of an animal that fell a long time ago, - the site of the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District reports. “The deer in this area were extremely weakened due to the heat, which contributed to their infection.”

According to the Rosselkhoznadzor, sporadic cases of anthrax in animals are registered in Russia: annually two or three points are unfavorable for the disease and from two to seven sick animals. At the same time, in the period from 2009 to 2014, 40 cases of anthrax were registered in the country (43% more than in the previous five years) in three federal districts: 20 in the North Caucasus, 11 in the Siberian and nine - in the South.

In 2015, three residents of the Balashovsky district of the Saratov region were diagnosed with anthrax. It turned out that all three participated in the slaughter of a bull.

Anthrax is a particularly dangerous infectious disease of agricultural and wild animals of all kinds, as well as humans. The source of infection are wild animals and livestock, the disease is not transmitted from person to person.

Infection occurs by contact, the incubation period of the disease lasts an average of three to five days. The disease proceeds at lightning speed, is characterized by hemorrhagic inflammation of the skin, lymph nodes and internal organs.