IXODES TICK-BORNE BORRELIOSES: MODERN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SITUATION IN THE CENTER OF THE EUROPEAN PART OF RUSSIA

Ixodes tick-borne borrelioses occupy one of the leading places in terms of morbidity and socio-economic damage among the natural foci of zoonotic infections in our country. Expansion of the range distribution of pathogens Lyme disease along with the widespread increase in the size of the main vectors of infection (ticks) determines the relevance of the study of the epidemiological characteristics of Lyme disease in areas that until recently were considered safe from the disease. This study was conducted to identify the level, dynamics and disease distribution patterns of Ixodes tick-born borreliosis in areas of Сentral European part of Russia, located in different climatic zones. Based on statistical data and reports from the Russian Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare- Rospotrebnadzor and Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Moscow, Ryazan and Tula regions for the 1992-2015 years, it has been shown that the incidence of Lyme disease increases moving from south to north as well as from the forest-steppe natural-climatic zone to the southern Taiga zone. The most epidemiologically disadvantaged region by Ixodes tick-born borreliosis amongst the studied regions was Moscow region, where the average annual incidence rate was 2,6 per 100 000 population. In all three areas, despite the differences in the species’ composition of mites and their degree of infection, there is an annual increase in morbidity due to Lyme borreliosis. The findings confirm the need for preventive measures against Ixodes tick-born borreliosis, the most significant being territorial coverage with acaricidal treatments.