Post forwarded from NW_AZ_Granny
> Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 19:44:13 -0500 (EST)
> To:
promed-ahead@promedmail.org > From: ProMED
promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu > Subject: PRO/AH> Anthrax, cattle gravesites - Russia
> (Urals)
>
>
> ANTHRAX, CATTLE GRAVESITES - RUSSIA (URALS)
>
> A ProMED-mail post
>
http://www.promedmail.org > ProMED-mail is a program of the
> International Society for Infectious Diseases
>
http://www.isid.org >
> [1]
> Date: 18 Feb 2004
> From: ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org > Source: RIA Vesti, 29 Jan 2004 [edited]
>
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm >
>
> 105 anthrax-infected cattle graveyards have been
> located by Ural
> regional authorities
>
> Ural public prosecutors have discovered 105 cattle
> graveyards that
> contain anthrax spores. According to a chief deputy
> Prosecutor of
> the Russian Federation, Yuriy Zolotov, altogether in
> the Ural federal
> region there are about 1100 neglected graveyards.
>
> A cattle graveyard in Tobolsk needs special
> attention. It is located
> on the banks of the Irtish river, and if flooding
> occurs, there is a
> high risk of the river becoming infected with
> anthrax. Today the
> Irtish river is separated from the Tobolsk graveyard
> by 50 meters, a
> distance that is shortening every year.
>
> According to Deputy Prosecutor Zolotov, today this
> dangerous site is
> under security control, and serious work has begun
> to repair the
> banks of the Irtish.
>
> --
> ProMED
>
promed@promedmail.org >
> [I turned to my friend and the anthrax expert on
> Russia, Beniyamin
> Cherkasskiy, who generously replied as follows. -
> Mod.MHJ]
>
> [2]
> Date: Thu 19 Feb 2004 12:25 PM
> From: Beniyamin L. Cherkasskiy
zoonoz@proc.ru > [edited]
>
>
> I would like to provide some comments about the
> message you sent me regarding
> anthrax in the Ural region. Firstly I would like to
> point out that the Ural
> Federal region is approximately 1.8 million square
> km in area, with a human
> population of about 12.5 million. The region
> consists of Kurgan, Sverdlovsk,
> Tumen, Chelyabinsk, Yamalo-Nenetskaya, and
> Hanti-Mansiyskaya national
> districts.
>
> The entire region (north to south) has a history of
> anthrax, and
> therefore the discovery of numerous anthrax sites
> should not come as a
> surprise (in Russia, places with any history of
> anthrax are
> permanently labelled as 'anthrax sites'). I
> personally know the
> location of 2086 such sites in the Ural region. At 4
> of these sites,
> cases of animals being infected with anthrax were
> recorded between
> 1991 and 2000. In reality, the number of cattle
> gravesites is much
> higher, as there may be several such gravesites at
> any one of these
> anthrax sites. However, it is hard to say that there
> are positively
> identified anthrax spores in these gravesites -- as
> there have never
> been such investigations into these sites.
>
> The Tobolski gravesite is peculiar, but not because
> it is on the
> banks of the Irtish river. I am familiar with many
> such gravesites on
> the banks of various rivers and even at the bottom
> of artificial
> water reservoirs. However, my field studies show
> that such gravesites
> do not pose any serious epidemiological concern. The
> Tobolski
> gravesite is the result of activity at a nearby
> factory involved in
> the production of veterinary prophylactic drugs,
> including vaccines
> against anthrax. Unfortunately despite sealing off
> the toxic waste
> storage facility with concrete, which provides
> isolation from the
> surrounding environment, the factory does not have
> any resources for
> the radical disinfection of the waste.
>
> I hope that my comments have helped you better
> understand the anthrax
> situation in the Ural region.
>
> --
> Beniyamin Cherkasskiy
> D/WHO CC of Zoonoses
> Central Research Institute of Epidemiology
> Moscow, Russia
>
zoonoz@proc.ru >
> [Beniyamin has been converting the multitude of
> anthrax site reports into a
> single register for the whole country, so he knows
> what he is talking about.
> While such places are commonly regarded as risk
> sites, the reality is more of
> uncertainty and ignorance. While some sites will
> have viable spores in
> significant numbers, what determines this state of
> affairs and its
> probability are totally unknown. Logically it must
> depend on soil type -- anthrax persists in regions
> with alkaline soils with
> high calcium content and is absent from acid soil
> regions -- but also
> presumably on whether necropsies were done on the
> affected carcasses before
> burial, and strain genotype group.
>
> Decomposition in unopened carcasses will rapidly
> kill the vegetative cells as
> the pH falls. Burning and then burial of the ashes
> results in essentially
> zero risk. And even with sites that have spores,
> repeated sampling over the
> years has shown some sites becoming 'apathogenic'
> from plasmid loss.
> Examination of such sites is needed, if only to rule
> out those that present
> no risk. I would not be surprised if the majority
> are harmless. - Mod.MHJ]
>
> [see also:
> Anthrax, human, porcine - Russia (Ulyanovsk) (02)
> 20040204.0419
> Anthrax, human, porcine - Russia (Ulyanovsk)
> 20040130.0355
> 2003
> ----
> Anthrax, meat import restrictions - Russia
> 20031222.3115
> Anthrax, human & cattle - Russia (Volgograd) (02)
> 20031006.2508
> Anthrax, human & cattle - Russia (Volgograd)
> 20031003.2486
> 2002
> ----
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Kalmykia) 20020716.4776
> Anthrax, emergency vaccination - Russia (South) (02)
> 20020708.4699
> Anthrax, emergency vaccination - Russia (South)
> 20020703.4661
> 2001
> ----
> Anthrax, letters - Russia (Yekaterinburg)
> 20011107.2754
> 2000
> ----
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Volgograd) (02)
> 20000913.1564
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Kursk) 20000816.1364
> 1999
> ----
> Anthrax - Russia (Dagestan) 19991016.1839
> Anthrax, human - Russia (W. Siberia) (03)
> 19990917.1668
> Anthrax? deer - Russia (Siberia-Yakutia)
> 19990901.1534
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Buryatia) (04)
> 19990719.1220
> Anthrax, disposal of stockpiles - Russia (05)
> 19990710.1154
> Anthrax, pigs - Russia (Krasnodar) 19990329.0497
> 1998
> ----
> Anthrax - Russia (Krasnodar) (04) 19980805.1506
> Anthrax - Russia 19980722.1383
> Anthrax, vaccines - Russia (02) 19980222.0346
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Sverdlovsk): 1979
> 19980204.0217
> 1997
> ----
> Anthrax, human - Russia (Nizhny Novgorod)
> 19970821.1752
> 1996
> ----
> Anthrax - Russia (03) 19961030.1839
> 1995
> ----
> Anthrax - Russia 19950807.0646]
> ................................... lm/mhj/pg/jw
>
*##########################################################*
> ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the
> reports that
> are posted, but the accuracy and completeness
> of the
> information, and of any statements or
> opinions based
> thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all
> risks in
> using information posted or archived by
> ProMED-mail. ISID
> and its associated service providers shall not
> be held
> responsible for errors or omissions or held liable
> for any
> damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon
> posted
> or archived material.
>
> Visit ProMED-mail's web site at
>
http://www.promedmail.org. > Send all items for posting to:
>
promed@promedmail.org > (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not
> give your
> full name and affiliation, it may not be
> posted. Send
> commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get
> archives, help,
> etc. to:
majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance
> from a
> human being send mail to:
>
owner-promed@promedmail.org.