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Abstract
Objective
The goal of this study was to characterize the epidmiological, geographic, and
historical characteristics of erysipeloid outbreaks in the Republic of Armenia.
Introduction
Erysipeloid is a zoonotic bacterial infection transmitted to humans from animals.
Symptoms include inflamed joints and skin; there is also a generalized type of the
infection in which bacteria spread through the lymphatic and blood vessels, leading
to the emergence of widespread skin lesions and the formation of secondary foci of
infection in internal organs. Morbidity has no age or gender specifics; there is
summer and autumn seasonality. The agent of the infection - Erysipelothrix
rhusiopathiae can be found in many domestic and wild animals. Wild
rodents and ectoparasites play an essential role in spreading the disease and serve
as a source of infection contaminating the environment.
Methods
Tests are conducted on both national and Marz levels in Reference Laboratory Center
of NCDC SNCO and Marz branch laboratories of Especially Dangerous, Zoonotic and
Natural Foci Infections respectively. Tests for detection of E.
rhusiopathiae and confirmation of epizootics are conducted on rodents
and ectoparasites collected from their hair and nests from 373 sectors of Armenia.
Tests include smear microscopy and a bioassay in which cultures from a suspension
of
rodent organs or an emulsion of ticks and fleas are injected into white mice to
assess the presence of agent in the organs or parasites.
Results
Ten years of monitoring indicates that erysipeloid epizootics have been recorded
annually in Armenia with a total number of 119 cases. The most outbreaks were
recorded in 2011 when 26 cases were recorded while in 2009 there were 20. The lowest
number of cases recorded was five in 2008. Kotayk, Aragatsotn and Lori Marzes have
the least number of cases with only 1-3 recorded epizootics, while Vayk, Gegharkunik
and Shirak Marzes are considered active foci with 5-7 cases reported.
Microbiological analyses indicates that 80% of cultures were isolated from field
mice, 13.3% from gamasid ticks, 4.2% from fleas and 2.5% from ixodid ticks.
Conclusions
The presence of E. rhusiopathiae is stable in Armenia. It is found
among rodents, where the epidemiological situation remains unfavorable. Constant
regular tests/analyses are required to prevent human and animal infection. There is
a need to enhance the area of test sites and apply most up-to-date methods of
analysis i.e. ELISA, PCR so that the live bioassays in mice can be halted.
ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2018. This is an Open Access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all
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original work is properly cited.