Репозиторий Университета

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Recombination is a common event in RNA viruses; however, in the rabies virus there have been only a few reports of isolated recombination events. Comprehensive analysis found traces of recent recombination events within Arctic, Arctic-like and Africa 1b rabies virus groups, as well as recombination between distinct lyssaviruses. Recombination breakpoints were not linked to gene boundaries and could be detected all over the genome. However, there was no evidence that recombination is an important factor in the genetic variability of the rabies virus. It is therefore likely that recombination in the rabies virus is limited by ecological factors (e.g., rare co-circulation of distinguishable lineages and a narrow window for productive coinfection in most carnivore hosts), rather than molecular barriers (e.g., incompatibility of genome fragments).

© 2018, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved. The objective. Assessment of the surveillance and control over rabies in the Russian Federation in order to determine the main directions of improving these systems under modern conditions. Materials and methods. Data of rabies surveillance in the Russian Federation in 2000–2017 were used, as well as official statements and governmental reports of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, epidemiological descriptive-evaluative methods and GIS technology. Results. The current situation with rabies in the Russian Federation has been specified, which is characterized by a decrease of human morbidity rates against the background of a growth of rabies cases found in animals. Central Russia and the Volga region are among high-risk territories, where the maximal intensity of epizootics among wild carnivores has been observed since 2014. As has been shown, the existing rabies surveillance system permits to determine risk territories, groups, cohorts and time periods. On the other hand, there are problems related to the epidemiological diagnostics and low awareness of the population. Conclusion. Successful surveillance and control over rabies in the Russian Federatiuon under modern conditions requires improvement of the normative-legislative basis, professional preparation of specialists, further scientific research, and also consolidation of resource provision and inter-organisational interaction.

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Rabies virus is endemic to Russia, among other countries. It is therefore critical to develop a high-quality and high-precision diagnostic procedure for the control and prevention of infection. The main objective of the research presented here was to develop a reliable RT-qPCR assay for rabies diagnostics. For this purpose, a RABV strains from various biological and geographical origins were used. In addition, rabies-positive and rabies-negative samples, as well as nucleic acids from other viruses and DNA extracted from the brain tissues of mice, dogs, cats, bats and humans, were studied using the developed assay. The analytical sensitivity of the assay, as assessed using armored recombinant positive control dilutions, was 103 copies/ml, and the sensitivity measured using characterized strains was between 0.1 LD50/ml and 1.0 LD50/ml. A broad range of RNA from RABV strains circulating in different regions of Russia, as well as RNA from RABV-positive primary brain samples from 81 animals and two humans, was detected using the developed assay. No false-positive or false-negative results were obtained. Given that high analytical and diagnostic sensitivities and a high specificity were verified for this assay, it has high potential as a screening test that may be suitable for the epizootiological monitoring of animals and for the fast postmortem diagnosis of rabies.

Recombination is a common event in RNA viruses; however, in the rabies virus there have been only a few reports of isolated recombination events. Comprehensive analysis found traces of recent recombination events within Arctic, Arctic-like and Africa 1b rabies virus groups, as well as recombination between distinct lyssaviruses. Recombination breakpoints were not linked to gene boundaries and could be detected all over the genome. However, there was no evidence that recombination is an important factor in the genetic variability of the rabies virus. It is therefore likely that recombination in the rabies virus is limited by ecological factors (e.g., rare co-circulation of distinguishable lineages and a narrow window for productive coinfection in most carnivore hosts), rather than molecular barriers (e.g., incompatibility of genome fragments).

Recombination is a common event in RNA viruses; however, in the rabies virus there have been only a few reports of isolated recombination events. Comprehensive analysis found traces of recent recombination events within Arctic, Arctic-like and Africa 1b rabies virus groups, as well as recombination between distinct lyssaviruses. Recombination breakpoints were not linked to gene boundaries and could be detected all over the genome. However, there was no evidence that recombination is an important factor in the genetic variability of the rabies virus. It is therefore likely that recombination in the rabies virus is limited by ecological factors (e.g., rare co-circulation of distinguishable lineages and a narrow window for productive coinfection in most carnivore hosts), rather than molecular barriers (e.g., incompatibility of genome fragments).