According to the latest data, there are no new infected in Yamal - neither people nor deer. But the military is still on the front lines, dealing with the worst anthrax outbreak in decades. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are engaged in the placement of evacuated indigenous people, and the restoration of property abandoned by the Nenets may be entrusted to prisoners.
Yamal Zone
“Feet shoulder-width apart, arms apart! Expand your arms, spread your legs! Turn around!" Soldiers leaving the anthrax-infested area after six hours of work lined up in front of the helicopter. Their protective suits are completely treated with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid.
Six teams of thirteen people work daily in the focus of infection in the Yamal region of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. All are officers serving on a contract basis and trained to work in conditions of infection. Each group includes military biologists who monitor the safety of personnel and adherence to the disinfection procedure.
Now the contingent of the forces of the Ministry of Defense in the region is 276 people, said Major General Valery Vasilyev, head of the armed forces at the emergency site, commander of the troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection of the Central Military District. "It's enough. There is also a second tier: another 200 people have been vaccinated and are gaining immunity. But for now, they are not needed. The more people, the more transport is needed and the higher the risk of violating security requirements,” explains Vasiliev. The zone of infection, according to him, is a section 15 by 27 kilometers long on the Yamal Peninsula. Outside of it, no cases of the disease were recorded.
The main task of the military is to dispose of the bodies of dead animals and disinfect the area. However, no timeframe has yet been announced for when the work will be completed.
“During the first three days, we destroyed about 350 carcasses, and every day we are increasing the volume,” the Major General continues. - The groups work by combining two methods, which makes it possible to ensure the elimination of local foci of infection in the place where deer die. The first is incineration. It already kills anthrax. The temperature regime for the destruction of spores is 140-150 degrees. Using rubber products, oil and fire mixtures, we bring the temperature up to 400-500 degrees. Then we disinfect the area with bleach."
Cleanup
Many bonfires are burning around the Yarata lakes, in the vicinity of the abandoned summer camp of reindeer herders. It was here, according to social media reports, that the pestilence killed about 1,200 deer. The total number of animals killed in the danger zone - 2349, according to the administration of the Yamal region, has not increased over the past week. In parallel with work in places of mass loss of livestock, the military is reconnaissance of the surroundings from the air.
“We carry out reconnaissance of the contaminated area, take the coordinates and transfer them to the headquarters, after which specialists are sent to the place who are engaged in disinfection. We fly at an extremely low altitude, from 50 to 100 meters, which is enough to detect the bodies of fallen animals. We make from five to ten sorties a day,” said pilot-navigator Rushan Galiev. In total, four Mi-8s of the Ministry of Defense, which arrived from the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, and three helicopters of a regional airline operate in the Yamal region.
On the ground, vaccinated and vaccinated local residents help the helicopter pilots, marking the deer carcasses with flags. The indigenous population significantly facilitated the work of the cleansing groups. As Pavel Laptander, a resident of the district, said, since the beginning of the mass mortality, reindeer herders have been independently setting up burial grounds in the tundra. “There are a hundred or more deer in each pit. They are scattered anywhere, most of them are in a section of about eight by ten kilometers, ”the Yamal resident specified.
“Reindeer herders told us about seven mass graves, closed and open. We carried out reconnaissance in order to mark these places on the epizootic map and disinfect them. Before that, we will take samples for analysis in order to determine a specific strain of anthrax,” explained Valery Vasiliev.
No new cases
All people and equipment involved in the elimination of the consequences of the disease undergo multi-stage disinfection in order to avoid infection of personnel and not to spread bacteria and spores to new territories. In addition to the double treatment of protective suits and gas masks, the skin is disinfected with alcohol, the helicopter interior, chassis, doorway and air intakes are washed with a solution of DTSGK (dvtretibasnaya salt of calcium hypochlorite - an analogue of bleach). All military personnel working in a dangerous area undergo a medical examination twice a day in a camp deployed on a safe territory - the Vladimir Naka station of the Obskaya-Bovanenkovo railway.
“My task is to work with people who are sent to dispose of dead animals,” said Nail Karimov, a district physician assigned to the troops from the city of Labytnangi. - Every day before departure and after returning, we perform thermometry and examination of the skin. All soldiers have been immunized, and we also give out chemoprevention pills against signature. Control is carried out constantly. There are no sick people in the camp, and even those with a fever. As a result of the outbreak, only local residents who were in contact with animals, representatives of the indigenous nationality, suffered.
With a confirmed diagnosis of anthrax, as already Lenta.ru, there were 23 people in the Salekhard medical facility. Later, 13 more patients were identified, and three dozen tundra dwellers are now receiving treatment, most of them children and adolescents. This number has not increased in recent days. The only victim of the infection is a 12-year-old child, who was brought from the tundra last week in a serious condition and soon died of an intestinal form of the disease. During hospitalization, doctors found out that he had eaten deer meat and blood.
At the same time, as Natalya Khlopunova, the press secretary of the governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, said, by August 5, the first five tundra dwellers from among those previously delivered with suspicion of anthrax left the hospital in Salekhard, including one child. Another 25 northerners were preparing for discharge in the rehabilitation department, 66 people remained under observation in the infectious disease department. More than 600 tundra workers and specialists from the risk group have been vaccinated, and the number of vaccinated deer is approaching 70,000.
Chum for a million
“For nine days now, we have not had a case in the herd. Ten days after vaccination, if there are no dead or sick animals, they can be slaughtered for food. But we won't, of course. Now we are going to the point where the helicopter will fly with new plagues, we will undergo sanitation there,” said Gulnara Rogaleva, a veterinarian at the Yarsalinskoye municipal reindeer herding enterprise. She roams the tundra with a herd of 2,600 heads of municipal and private deer.
All plagues and household items left in the infected area have been destroyed. New camps will be located in the “clean” zone. As of August 5, one has already been equipped, people are moving in there, the regional government said. For the period until the rest are ready, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will deploy eight tent camps in the Yamal region of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, they will temporarily relocate tundra dwellers from temporary accommodation points. Everything needed - 80 multi-person tents, bedding, three thousand one-day rations - was delivered to the region this week from Moscow and Yekaterinburg. In addition, the ministry doubled its presence in the region: the same number of rescuers from the Ural Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were added to the three dozen employees of the Leader Center for Rescue Operations of Special Risk.
Meanwhile, the region allocated 90 million rubles to support the tundra dwellers who left their property in the emergency zone. As Viktor Yugay, director of the regional department of agro-industrial complex, trade and food, said yesterday, one hundred chums can be purchased and staffed with these funds.
“Lists and a list of necessary property have been formed, which we will acquire and distribute to people as quickly as possible, taking into account procedural issues related to procurement,” says Yugay. - According to our calculations, the cost of one summer set of plague (winter ones were in the "clean" zone), taking into account all the utensils and clothing, is approximately 900 thousand rubles. I think, for efficiency, all this will be purchased in the district. Now we are discussing the possibility of manufacturing at least some of the necessary items in the colonies of Kharpa and Labytnangi.
MOSCOW, August 3 — RIA Novosti, Larisa Zhukova. The outbreak of anthrax hit the Yamalo-Nenets region for the first time in 75 years. Recently it became known about the death of a 12-year-old child. The ulcer was found in 20 people. Another 70 remain hospitalized with suspected infection, more than half of them children. RIA Novosti found out why the bacillus is dangerous, how to protect yourself from the disease and what the authorities and local residents think about it.
Causes of the outbreak
Quarantine in the Yamal district of the district was introduced on July 25. Then it became known about the mass death of animals: more than 2 thousand deer died from anthrax. According to local residents, for about a week the media and the authorities did not report on the incident: "We learned all the information primarily from social networks from relatives of doctors and rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations," said Galina (not her real name), a resident of Salekhard.
"The scale of the epidemic was also affected by the fact that at first they thought that the hot weather was to blame and the deer were dying from heatstroke. We lost a week or even a little more on this,"
Told a local resident Ivan (name changed).
Anthrax was found in 20 Nenets. The figures were given by Irina Shestakova, chief freelance specialist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for infectious diseases.
Anthrax struck Yamal for the first time in 75 years: one dead, 20 sickIn total, more than 2.3 thousand animals died due to the outbreak of the disease. To eliminate the consequences of an anthrax outbreak, military specialists and aviation of the Russian Ministry of Defense were sent to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.According to her, all the infected are nomadic reindeer herders who were at the center of the outbreak in the tundra. Most of them have a cutaneous form of the disease.
This is not complete data on the number of cases, the governor of the district, Dmitry Kobylkin, told RIA Novosti. According to him, to establish an accurate diagnosis, you need up to thirty days: today is only the eighth day.
In 2007, mandatory vaccination against infection was canceled: scientists did not find anthrax spores in the soil, the governor said. The situation turned out to be extraordinary: the last time the epidemic was in 1941. I had to ask for the help of the military: "It was hard to quickly dispose of the fallen deer on our own, until they decomposed. And they are scattered at a great distance," said Dmitry Kobylkin.
What is the danger of the disease
“Anthrax is quite contagious and causes a large number of deaths,” said Vladislav Zhemchugov, MD, a specialist in especially dangerous infections. “The spores of the pathogen are stored in the soil for centuries. An infection that got into the ground along with a dead animal back in the time of Alexander the Great , remains active". According to the doctor, outbreaks of the disease occur after the activation of foci (washing out of spores to the surface) during floods, excavations or melting ice, as in Yamal.
The disease occurs in different forms: skin, intestinal and pulmonary. The pulmonary form, for example, was in the US when envelopes with spores were sent out - this is the most severe variant of the infection. Almost one hundred percent fatal without urgent medical intervention: people lose consciousness and die within a few hours after infection.
“The skin form is easier to cure, because the lymph nodes stand in the way of bacteria: they delay the development of the disease. A sign of infection are carbuncles - abscesses with a black top. The intestinal form of anthrax causes high fever, pain in the intestines and diarrhea. The period from infection to death can amount to several hours or days," Vladislav Zhemchugov specified.
Most often, infection occurs when eating or cutting the meat of a sick animal. This causes real concern among the Nenets, since the main source of meat for many is venison: "Usually we buy one or two carcasses per season," said local resident Ivan (not his real name). - "Now we will not only be unable to buy meat, but we will be afraid to buy fish."
Against vaccinations
Anyone can get vaccinated against anthrax: ninety thousand doses of the vaccine have been delivered to the region. However, nomadic reindeer herders refuse to consider anthrax a real threat.
According to local media, the child who died of anthrax not only ate contaminated deer meat, but also drank its blood. "This is a traditional food of the northern peoples who live in the tundra and lack food diversity. Fresh blood gives them energy," said Andrey Podluzhnov, a veterinarian and red deer breeder.
According to him, nomads meet with civilization twice a year, when they come to sell deer for meat, and do not trust "people from the mainland." That is why many reindeer herders hide their livestock from counting, vaccination and slaughter. Despite the fact that, according to the press service of the Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets District, 35 thousand deer were vaccinated, the nomads continue to hide the animals as much as possible and take them away from meeting with rescuers and the military:
"For the peoples of the north, the deer is practically a totemic animal. The whole life of a reindeer breeder is centered around it. For a nomad, losing a deer means losing everything. This is their bread, home, transport. Reindeer breeders do not know how to do anything else. The livestock can be reduced greatly: by about three quarters "And it is extremely difficult to restore the population. For the local population, this will be a humanitarian catastrophe,"
Andrey Podluzhnov emphasized.
There is no threat to other regions
The causative agent of anthrax can penetrate through water and dust raised from the surface of the soil from the region of infection. Despite this, experts note that the likelihood of such an infection is extremely small. In the quarantine zone, doctors recommend drinking bottled water or from underground sources. Yamal authorities have also warned local residents that picking berries and mushrooms in the forest is now extremely dangerous.
As for other regions of Russia, birds could become the most likely carrier of the infection. But those birds that are now nesting in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug will fly to Southeast Asia, India and Australia for wintering, told RIA Novosti Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Irina Boehme. According to her, the only precedent when birds hypothetically became carriers of the virus was during the avian flu epidemic, but this fact could not be proven 100%.
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 it was reported from the Yamal tundra that the reindeer could not cope with the abnormally high temperature. By the weekend, the most difficult situation was observed among the private reindeer herders near the Tarko-Sale trading post and in the reindeer herding brigade, which was stationed 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 will most likely be delivered from Moscow to Yamal today. 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.
There is no threat of anthrax spread beyond the quarantine zone. All animals and people are vaccinated. The entire personnel of the airmobile group of the Ural Rescue Center, as well as contract servicemen who work in the affected area, have also been vaccinated. This was told to the RG correspondent by phone by one of the members of the group of microbiologists who arrived in Yamal, the head of the observation network and laboratory control department of the Antistihiia Center of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, Alexander Ulyev.
When asked how dangerous a sharp outbreak of such a dangerous disease is, Uliev replied that now it is safe to say that the infection will not spread further. Several factors make this possible. Firstly, for several days there has been no loss of livestock. Secondly, almost the entire herd was quickly vaccinated, which is more than 30 thousand deer in the Yamal region. Reindeer herders and their families have also been vaccinated. Everyone who is in the area and is about to leave is under surveillance. The incubation period for the disease is 7 days. And during this period, people undergo observation. So you can be sure that no one will bring the disease to other regions in themselves or on clothes. According to the microbiologist of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, serious control has been established both on the part of the rescuers, and on the part of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Why did the outbreak of anthrax occur in Yamal?
Alexander Uliev: Epidemiologists are still dealing with this. Now it is clear that the disease passed to people from cattle. For some reason, it is deer that are most susceptible to rapid infection with an ulcer. And, say, cattle, our Russian cows, are more resistant to the disease. It is possible that the ulcer spores have thawed out after suspended animation since 1941, when an even more acute outbreak of anthrax was observed in Yamal.
But why in Yamal, because the current heat has affected not only these places?
Alexander Uliev: In other places there are cattle burial grounds where access is closed. And on Yamal in 1941, no one blew up the permafrost, they didn’t take all the dead cattle to the cattle burial grounds and didn’t burn them. Then the corpses of deer remained lying in the tundra. The spores of the ulcer froze, and now come to life. I personally see this version of what happened.
Alexander Ulyev did not rule out that the disease in 1941 was transmitted through a harness. In those days, a lot of belts, girths for horses were made from animal skins. It is possible that some of the leather items were made from the skins of diseased animals. But then the country was not up to it, and there was no time to understand. Now all concerned departments are not only sounding the alarm, but are also actively involved in the fight against the spread of the infection.
Today, the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia reported that 30 rescuers who arrived the day before from Chelyabinsk began to deploy tent camps for reindeer herders evacuated from remote areas.
The tents, bedding sets, stoves and food delivered to Salekhard the day before by the aviation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are currently being transferred to the settlement of Yar-Sale, from where their helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Mi-8 and Mi-26 will be delivered to the tundra in a clean zone, where the rescuers of the Leader Center "and the Ural Training and Rescue Rescue Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, eight life support camps will be deployed," said Colonel Alexei Vagutovich, head of the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
In addition, the press service of the regional governor gave a TASS correspondent the latest figures on the situation on the peninsula. According to local authorities, in the Yamal region, 200 km north of the village of Yar-Sale, on a remote pasture, more than 2.3 thousand deer died from anthrax. The total number of livestock in the quarantine zone exceeds 41 thousand heads. For preventive purposes, 256 people, including 132 children, were evacuated from the reindeer herders' camp. Of these, 90 people, including 53 children, were hospitalized in the infectious diseases departments of medical institutions in Salekhard and Yar-Sale, according to doctors. Suspicion of the disease "Anthrax" was found in 28 people, including 15 children. The area of the buffer zone around the anthrax outbreak in Yamal is 11,000 square meters. km.
Veterinarians intend to vaccinate the entire Yamal livestock against anthrax - more than 700 thousand heads. First of all, the herd roaming in the territory of the Yamal region, where an anthrax outbreak has been recorded, will be covered by vaccination. Tazovsky and Priuralsky districts are next in line. There is not a single case of illness, but when it comes to biological safety, it is better to play it safe, the press service of the governor noted.
The number of people hospitalized from an anthrax outbreak in Yamal has risen from nine to 13, 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 with an unfavorable disease and from two to seven sick animals are detected. 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.
