Specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops arrived in Yamal, 200 people in total. Their task is to eliminate the consequences of the anthrax outbreak in the Yamal tundra. Before heading to the contaminated zone, military personnel underwent a medical examination and mandatory vaccination.

The head of the military State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision of Yekaterinburg, Pavel Davydov, said: “the vaccine used for specific prevention has been approved for use in the RF Armed Forces for the prevention of anthrax, and has repeatedly proven its effectiveness in areas of epidemic morbidity; its effectiveness was 95 percent.”

The military has 30 units of special equipment at its disposal. Army planes delivered preparations for disinfection of territories from the Samara region. Helicopters will ensure the rapid transfer of people. The deployment point is the area of ​​the Vladimir Naka station of the Obskaya - Bovanenkovo ​​railway. Meanwhile, the quarantine introduced in the Yamal region on July 25 continues to apply. All this time, specialists from relevant departments worked there.

Mass death - the first message about this came to the administration of the Yamal region from the village of Factoria Tarko-Sale. Private reindeer herders reported that more than 60 reindeer died in their herd. This was just the first wake-up call. Later, reports of the death came from private reindeer herders grazing their herds in the area of ​​Lake Yaroto.

« This is north of Lake Yaroto, northern shore of Lake Edwanto. It is difficult to count there, whether near the plague or in the tundra - it is difficult. They counted about 200 heads.", said Deputy Head of the Yamal District Administration Yuri Khudi.

To find out the reasons for the death, representatives of the administration and veterinarians immediately flew to the tundra. They carried out all the necessary actions in such a situation. Tissue samples were taken from the dead animals for further analysis. The suspected cause of death is heatstroke.

But everything turned out to be much more serious. Death in the herds continued. And then the laboratory announced the diagnosis: anthrax.

At the first camp, the picture is not for the faint of heart. Hungry calves do not leave their 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 pen, which is usually carried 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 has been here before. The first time was when a mass death was reported. Once it became known that the cause of death of the animals was not heat, but anthrax, experts assumed that the deer, looking for food in an area of ​​thawed permafrost, stumbled upon the corpse of a long-dead animal.

Only powerful equipment can dig 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 Yarsala hospital. 32 people, most of whom were children, were sent to the Salekhard hospital.

“An individual approach is provided to each child, everyone receives specific treatment. Patients are treated by infectious disease doctors. The mothers of the children who are caring for them are being monitored dynamically - they also receive antibacterial therapy,” said Irina Lapenko, head of the infectious diseases department of the Special Clinical Clinical Hospital.

Resident of the Yamal region Irina Salinder: “ The baby feels fine; when they arrived by helicopter, her temperature rose. Now he seems to be feeling normal, his 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 and problems"- said the Governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitry Kobylkin.

They tried to localize the anthrax outbreak in every possible way. The infection affected three reindeer herds, killing more than one and a half thousand heads. It will take time to understand the real reasons for what happened. But there are several versions.

Meanwhile, urgent vaccination of animals was organized in the herds. The issue with the vaccine for people has also been resolved; it was delivered to Yamal this week. 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, dangerous for both animals and people, was recorded on the territory of Yamal in 1941. And since 1968, the district has been officially included in the list of “anthrax-free” territories of the USSR. To personally assess the situation, the chief sanitary doctor of Russia, Anna Popova, arrived in the district. She stated that all 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 away from the infection zone to a safe distance to the areas of fish lakes, and all reindeer herders in the Yamal region were notified of the current situation. The nomads and their families who found themselves at the epicenter of events were provided with prompt assistance.

Everyone is involved in helping the nomads - the district authorities, public associations, and simply caring fellow countrymen.

Control over deer herds has been strengthened throughout the district. Death cases were also noted in the Gydan tundra. The picture is the same - the animals began to weaken and fall, but the shepherds considered the reason for this to be the intense heat and long marches. However, veterinarians immediately flew to the area of ​​the death. 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. Meanwhile, the research results came. The local deer do not have anthrax.

The reindeer herders of the Purovsky district are also relatively prosperous. Vaccination of animals began there. But not from anthrax, but from the subcutaneous gadfly. Because of the heat and fires, the local deer also suffered, the tundra dwellers complain.

The heat has receded. Vaccination of surviving animals in the Yamal region has been completed. After such vaccination, they no longer carry the danger of spreading anthrax, veterinarians say. In the tundra, preparations for the disposal of dead animals are in full swing. 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 problems - to ensure the safety of nomads and to preserve as much as possible the pastures of the world's largest herd of reindeer.

MOSCOW, August 3 – RIA Novosti, Larisa Zhukova. An anthrax outbreak hit the Yamalo-Nenets District for the first time in 75 years. Recently it became known about the death of a 12-year-old child. Ulcers were 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, the media and authorities did not report what happened for about a week: “We learned all the information primarily from social networks from relatives of doctors and emergency rescue workers,” said Salekhard resident Galina (name changed).

“The scale of the epidemic was also influenced 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 due to this,”

Told by local resident Ivan (name changed).

Anthrax was found in 20 Nenets. The figures were given by the chief freelance specialist of the Russian Ministry of Health for infectious diseases, Irina Shestakova.

According to her, all the infected are nomadic reindeer herders who were at the epicenter of the infection outbreak in the tundra. Most of them have the cutaneous form of the disease.

This is not complete data on the number of cases, district governor Dmitry Kobylkin told RIA Novosti. According to him, it takes up to thirty days to establish an accurate diagnosis: 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 there was an epidemic was in 1941. We had to ask for help from the military: “It was difficult to quickly dispose of the fallen deer on our own before they decomposed. And they were scattered over a long distance,” said Dmitry Kobylkin.

Why is the disease dangerous?

“Anthrax is quite contagious and causes a large number of deaths,” said Vladislav Zhemchugov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, a specialist in especially dangerous infections. “The spores of the pathogen are stored in the soil for centuries. An infection that fell 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 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 present in the United States when envelopes with spores were sent out - this is the most severe form of infection. Almost 100% fatal without immediate medical intervention: people lose consciousness and die within a few hours of infection.

“It is easier to cure the skin form, because lymph nodes stand in the way of the bacteria: they delay the development of the disease. A sign of infection are carbuncles - ulcers 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,” said Vladislav Zhemchugov.

Most often, infection occurs when eating or cutting the meat of a sick animal. This is a real concern for the Nenets, since the main source of meat for many is venison: “We usually buy one or two carcasses for the season,” said local resident Ivan (not his real name). “Now we will not only not be able to buy meat, but we will also 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 from anthrax not only ate contaminated deer meat, but also drank its blood. “This is the traditional food of the northern peoples who live in the tundra and are deprived of food diversity. Fresh blood gives them energy,” said Andrei Podluzhnov, a veterinarian and breeder of red deer.

According to him, nomads meet civilization twice a year, when they come to sell deer for meat, and do not trust “people from the mainland.” This is why many reindeer herders hide their livestock from being counted, vaccinated and slaughtered. Despite the fact that, according to the press service of the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets District, they managed to vaccinate 35 thousand deer, nomads continue to hide the animals as much as possible and divert them from meeting with rescuers and the military:

“For the peoples of the north, the deer is practically a totem animal. The entire life of a reindeer herder is centered around it. For a nomad, losing a deer means losing everything. This is their bread, home, transport. Reindeer herders 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 it 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 that is the source of infection. Despite this, experts note that the likelihood of such an infection is extremely low. In the quarantine zone, doctors recommend drinking bottled water or from underground sources. Yamal authorities also warned local residents that picking berries and mushrooms in the forest is now extremely dangerous.

As for other regions of Russia, the most likely carrier of the infection could be birds. But those birds that are now on nesting grounds in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug will fly to wintering grounds in Southeast Asia, India and Australia, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Moscow State University named after M.V. told RIA Novosti. Lomonosova Irina Boehme. According to her, the only precedent when birds hypothetically became carriers of the virus was during the bird flu epidemic, but this fact could not be proven one hundred percent.

Last week, it was reported from the Yamal tundra that reindeer were unable to cope with abnormally high temperatures. 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 located nearby. Today, the total losses are 1 thousand 200 deer.

Analysis of samples taken by the working group's specialists from animals last week showed the cause of death of the animals: part of the death of deer was caused by anthrax spores. Working groups consisting of members of the government and city administrations set out to find out the reasons for what happened. Animal autopsies were carried out, samples were taken for analysis, tundra areas were examined, and the necessary recommendations were given to reindeer herders. Based on the results of complex analyses, experts confirmed that the animals were dying both from the heat and from anthrax.

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

The probable cause of the infection of the deer, according to experts, is the site of the long-ago death of a sick animal, which 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 site of an animal that died from anthrax and then infected each other. Therefore, the local place for this grazing - the deer path - will be fenced off with special poles. Traditionally, local residents avoid these areas even after many years.

The bodies of the dead are disposed of. Healthy reindeer of the affected herd will undergo additional vaccination: the serum has been ordered and, most likely, will be delivered from Moscow to Yamal today. Facilities funds will be allocated for cleanup of animal death sites from the district budget reserve fund.

The district governor demanded that maximum precautions be taken for the health of specialists and nomads when carrying out events under quarantine conditions. On July 25, the issue of providing people with everything they needed was resolved. After determining the damage to the reindeer herders, the issue of compensation will be considered. Specialists from the veterinary service, departments of agriculture, indigenous peoples, and health continue to work in the region. The situation is under constant monitoring.

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

This dangerous infectious disease mainly affects animals, but as of August 2, 2016, 86 people were already admitted to the infectious diseases department of the Salekhard hospital with suspected anthrax. In 8 patients the diagnosis was confirmed, 1 child died.

1. What happened in Yamal

Last week it became known about the mass death of deer in Yamal (municipal region of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug): more than 2,300 animals died in a short time. The test results confirmed the worst fears of veterinarians and infectious disease specialists - anthrax “woke up”.

Yamal officials cite abnormal heat as the cause of the anthrax outbreak: in July the temperature hovered at 35°C, anthrax spores thawed from the permafrost, reindeer dug up an abandoned cattle burial ground and became infected with a deadly infection.

Today, there are 86 people from the quarantine zone in the infectious diseases department of Salekhard, including 51 children. Doctors confirmed the diagnosis in 8 patients, 1 child died.

Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) Dmitry Kobylkin described the situation as “moderately severe” and said that infectious disease specialists are doing everything possible to ensure that patients survive.

The outbreak of anthrax in the tundra has already been localized, more than 200 people from the reindeer herders' camp are receiving preventive vaccines.

2. Why is anthrax dangerous?

Anthrax (anthrax, malignant carbuncle) is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases in the world. This zoonosis spreads mainly among animals, but humans are also susceptible to the causative agent of the infection - the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis.

The source of the anthrax epidemic is cattle. The disease is usually not transmitted from person to person.

Anthrax occurs at lightning speed: within a few hours, the patient’s condition can become critical, and without timely antibacterial treatment, he dies.

The greatest danger is not bacteria, but anthrax spores: they can remain in the ground for decades. To suppress an outbreak of infection, the carcasses of dead animals are buried deep in the ground, and cattle burial grounds are covered with lime powder and other chlorine-containing antiseptics.

Today, all burial grounds are mapped and protected, but people and animals may find themselves near an abandoned burial site that poses a terrible threat.

3. Who can get infected with anthrax

Infection with anthrax mainly occurs through the skin: even a few dozen spores are enough for this. The disease is not spread from person to person, but if people eat meat or handle the skin of a sick animal, they can become infected.

Experts say that the infection cannot spread to other regions of the Russian Federation: deer are not slaughtered in the summer, and during the quarantine, the export of any livestock products from Yamal is strictly prohibited.

If you live far from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the only way to become infected is to buy meat or animal skins from poachers without a veterinary seal.

To stop the spread of anthrax, veterinarians are going to vaccinate more than 40 thousand reindeer, and reindeer herders will receive vaccinations and a preventative course of antibiotics.

4. What are the symptoms of anthrax in humans?

The incubation period for anthrax in humans is 3-14 days. Symptoms of the disease depend on its form.

• At cutaneous anthrax boils appear on the patient’s skin, which itch and gradually turn black; body temperature rises to 40 degrees or more, severe intoxication, nausea, and vomiting are observed.
• Intestinal anthrax occurs if you taste the meat of a sick animal. The infection begins with severe abdominal pain, fever, chills, vomiting blood and diarrhea.
• Pulmonary anthrax- the most dangerous. It is accompanied by chest pain, coughing up blood and suffocation.

The cutaneous form of anthrax is the easiest to cure: timely diagnosis and antibacterial therapy reduces mortality to 1-2%. If bacteria enter the stomach or lungs, sepsis develops, which can lead to death. Without timely treatment, 70-80% of patients die from septic anthrax.

5. Is anthrax a threat to Ukrainians?

If you live far from an anthrax outbreak, your chances of becoming infected are virtually zero. The exception is people who buy cheap animal products without a veterinary seal.

In Ukraine, over the past 15 years, cases of anthrax have been recorded three times - in 2003, 2012 and 2016.

In the spring of 2016, in Chuguev, Kharkov region, anthrax was detected in a sow that was kept in the private sector. The Chuguevsky district is considered unfavorable because in Soviet times the corpses of sick animals were simply buried in the ground here.

To avoid exposing yourself to the risk of anthrax and other infectious diseases, buy food only from designated places.

According to the latest data, there are no new infected people in Yamal - neither people nor deer. But the military remains on the ground, eliminating the consequences of the worst anthrax outbreak in decades. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are engaged in the accommodation of evacuated indigenous residents, and the restoration of property abandoned by the Nenets may be entrusted to prisoners.

Yamal Zone

“Feet shoulder-width apart, arms apart! Extend your arms, spread your legs! Turn around!” Soldiers leaving an anthrax-infested zone after six hours of work lined up in front of a 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 outbreak 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 contaminated conditions. Each group includes military medical biologists who monitor the safety of personnel and compliance with disinfection procedures.

Currently, the contingent of the Ministry of Defense forces in the region is 276 people, said Major General Valery Vasiliev, commander of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the Central Military District, who is in charge of the work of the armed forces at the emergency site. "It's enough. There is also a second echelon: another 200 people have been vaccinated and are gaining immunity. But for now they are not needed here. The more people there are, the more transport is needed and the higher the risk of violating safety requirements,” explains Vasiliev. The infection zone, according to him, is an area 15 by 27 kilometers long on the Yamal Peninsula. There have been no cases of the disease recorded outside of it.

The main task of military personnel is to dispose of the bodies of dead animals and disinfect the area. But the time frame by which the work will be completed has not yet been announced.

“During the first three days, we destroyed about 350 carcasses, and every day we are increasing the volume,” continues the major general. - Groups work by combining two methods, which makes it possible to guarantee the elimination of local foci of infection in the place where deer die. The first is burning. This already kills anthrax. The temperature regime for destroying spores is 140-150 degrees. Using rubber products, oil and fire mixtures, we bring the temperature to 400-500 degrees. Then we disinfect the area with bleach.”

Stripping

Many fires burn around the Yaratinskie lakes, in the vicinity of the abandoned summer camp of reindeer herders. It was here that, according to reports on social networks, the pestilence wiped out 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 throughout the last week. In parallel with work in places where there has been a mass death of livestock, the military is conducting reconnaissance of the surrounding area from the air.

“We conduct reconnaissance of the contaminated area, take coordinates and transmit them to headquarters, after which specialists are sent to the site to carry out disinfection. We fly at an extremely low altitude, from 50 to 100 meters, this is enough to detect the bodies of dead 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, arriving from the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, and three helicopters of a regional airline operate in the Yamal region.

On the ground, the helicopter pilots are assisted by vaccinated and vaccinated local residents, marking the deer carcasses with flags. The indigenous population made the work of the cleanup groups much easier. As Pavel Laptander, a resident of the area, said, even from the beginning of the mass mortality, reindeer herders independently set up burial grounds in the tundra. “There are a hundred or more deer in each hole. They are scattered anywhere, the main number is in an area of ​​about eight by ten kilometers,” the Yamal resident said.

“Reindeer herders told us about seven mass graves, closed and open. We conducted reconnaissance to mark these places on the epizootic map and disinfect them. Before this, we will take samples for analysis to determine the specific strain of anthrax,” explained Valery Vasiliev.

There are no new cases

All people and equipment involved in eliminating the consequences of the disease undergo multi-stage disinfection to avoid infection of personnel and not to spread bacteria and spores to new territories. In addition to double processing of protective suits and gas masks, the skin is disinfected with alcohol, the helicopter interior, landing gear, doorway and air intakes are washed with a solution of DTSGK (two-tertiary 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 set up in a safe area - 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 local general practitioner assigned to the troops from the city of Labytnangi. - Every day before departure and after return we perform thermometry and examination of the skin. All soldiers are immunized; in addition, upon signature, we issue chemoprophylaxis tablets. Control is carried out constantly. There are no sick people in the camp, or even just anyone with a fever. As a result of the outbreak, only local residents who had contact with animals, representatives of the indigenous nationality, were affected.”

With a confirmed diagnosis of anthrax, as already reported by Lenta.ru, there were 23 people in the Salekhard medical facility. Later, 13 more patients were identified, and now three dozen tundra dwellers are receiving treatment, most of whom are children and teenagers. This number has not increased in recent days. The only victim of the infection remains a 12-year-old child, who was brought from the tundra in serious condition last week and soon died from the intestinal form of the disease. During hospitalization, doctors found out that he had eaten deer meat and blood.

At the same time, as the press secretary of the governor of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Natalya Khlopunova said, by August 5, the first five tundra residents from among those previously admitted with suspected anthrax, including one child, left the hospital in Salekhard. Another 25 northerners were preparing for discharge in the rehabilitation department, 66 people remained under observation in the infectious diseases department. More than 600 tundra dwellers and at-risk specialists were vaccinated, and the number of vaccinated deer is approaching 70 thousand.

Chum for a million

“For nine days now there has been no mortality in our 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 a helicopter will arrive 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 municipal and private reindeer.

All plagues and household items remaining in the contaminated area are destroyed. The new camps will be located in the “clean” zone. As of August 5, one has already been equipped and people are moving in, the regional government reported. 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 Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and tundra dwellers from temporary accommodation centers will be temporarily relocated to them. Everything necessary - 80 multi-person tents, bedding, three thousand one-day rations - was delivered to the region from Moscow and Yekaterinburg this week. 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 carrying out high-risk rescue operations.

Meanwhile, the region has allocated 90 million rubles to support tundra dwellers who left their property in the emergency zone. As Viktor Yugay, director of the regional department of agriculture, trade and food, said yesterday, with these funds it is possible to purchase and equip one hundred tents.

“Lists and an inventory of the necessary property have been generated, which we will acquire and distribute to people as quickly as possible, taking into account procedural issues related to procurement,” says Yugai. - According to our calculations, the cost of one summer set of tents (the 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. We are now discussing the possibility of producing at least some of the necessary items in the colonies of Kharpa and Labytnangi.”