Molecular epidemiological study of animal rabies in Kazakhstan

YESSEMBEKOVA G.N. XIAO S. ABENOV A. KARIBAEV T. SHEVTSOV A. ASYLULAN A. MUKHANBETKALIYEV Y.Y. SHUAI L. BU Z.-G. ABDRAKHMANOV S.K.
April 2023 Editorial Department of Scientia Agricultura Sinica

Journal of Integrative Agriculture
2023 #22 Issue 4 1266 - 1275 pp.

Rabies is a serious public health issue in Kazakhstan, with high economic impact and social burden. As part of a routine surveillance, 31 rabies-positive brain specimens taken from livestock (cattle) and carnivores (dogs, foxes, and cats) during 2013–2021 were subject to viral sequencing. Phylogenetic and Bayesian analysis were performed using obtained rabies virus (RABV) sequences. All 31 strains of RABV candidate belonged to the Cosmopolitan clade, of which 30 strains belonged to steppe-type subclade, and 1 dog strain belonged to Other subclade. The 31 strains did not diverge from RABV strains in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries, including Russia, Mongolia, and China, suggesting that animal rabies has close relationship and transmission between borders. Fox-originated strains and cattle strains shared similar sequence signature, and some animal rabies cases had space–time intersection, showing that infected foxes were a major transmission source of cattle rabies in different Kazakhstan regions. Besides, free-roaming dogs played a pivotal role in rabies epizootics of cattle in Kazakhstan. The recent spread of animal rabies presents an increasing threat to public health, and provides updated information for improving current control and prevention strategies at the source for Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.

carnivores , livestock , phylogenetic analysis , rabies

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S. Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University, Nur-Sultan, 010011, Kazakhstan
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, 150069, China
National Reference Center for Veterinary Medicine, Center for Biotechnology, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
National Center for Biotechnology, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan

S. Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention
National Reference Center for Veterinary Medicine
National Center for Biotechnology

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