[Epidemiological Surveillance of Cholera in Russia During the Period of the Seventh Pandemic].

In this work basic stages of formation of the epidemiological surveillance of cholera in Russia are described. In 1990-s for the first time zoning by epidemic manifestations of cholera was carried out at the level of subjects forming parts of Russia and other Republics of the Soviet Union with the introduction of differential tactics of epidemiological surveillance. Improvement of epidemiological surveillance of cholera was aimed at harmonization with the IHR (2005), integration of epidemiological surveillance of cholera and social-hygienic monitoring of water objects of I and II categories.

[VNTR-genotyping of Vibrio cholerae strains isolated from objects in the territory of Russian Federation in 2012].

Aim: VNTR-typing of Vibrio cholerae strains isolated in the territory of Russian Federation in 2012.

Materials And Methods: 71 Vibrio cholerae O3 and 3 V cholerae O1/O139 strains were used in the study. Genotyping was performed by using PCR for 5 VNTR-loci.

Draft Genome Sequencing of Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor Isolates Collected in the Russian Federation from Imported Cholera Cases.

We report the draft genome sequencing of five Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor clinical isolates collected in the Russian Federation from imported cholera cases in 2006, 2010, and 2012. In the initial phylogenetic analysis, one isolate clustered with the Haiti/Nepal-4 group.

[System of activation of plasminogen in Vibrio cholerae].

Aim: Study system of activation of plasminogen in Vibrio cholerae.

Materials And Methods: 75 strains of V. cholerae of various origins were used in the study.

Draft Genome Sequences of Vibrio cholerae O1 ElTor Strains 2011EL-301 and P-18785, Isolated in Russia.

We report the draft whole-genome sequences of two Vibrio cholerae O1 strains, the environmental toxigenic strain 2011EL-301 and the clinical nontoxigenic strain P-18785, both isolated in Russia. Some basic data comparing the two against the GenBank repository are provided.

[The detection of capability of Vibrio comma to activate human plasminogen in vitro].

The article discusses the technique of defining the strains of comma bacillus according their capability to convert human plasminogen into plasmin in vitro. This method can be implemented in applied and fundamental research concerning the study of subtle mechanisms of pathogenesis and colonization of intestines under cholera.

[Characteristics of Vibrio cholerae nonO1/nonO139 serogroup strains that caused diseases in population of Rostov region].

Aim: Genotype characteristic and determination of serological properties of Vibrio cholerae nonO1/nonO139 strains that caused diseases in population of Rostov region from 2000 to 2009.

Materials And Methods: 15 clinical strains of V. cholerae nonO1/nonO139 were studied.

[Study of Legionella pneumophila strains isolated from environmental objects].

The paper presents the results of studying the biological properties of Legionella pneumophila strains isolated from environmental objects. Elective legionellosis medium (ELM) has been found to be suitable for the isolation of the causative agent from the starting material and to be as sensitive as CYE (Oxoid company) containing growth and selective additives. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a home-produced commercial test system used to detect L.

[Cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae O1 ctxAB- tcpA+].

Results of analysis of cholera outbreak during which V. cholerae O1 biovar El-Tor ctxAB- tcpA+ was isolated from 2 patients and 30 carriers are presented. Epidemic was caused by contamination of water source and water route of transmission.

[Vntr-genotyping of Francisella tularensis strains isolated in the former USSR territory and some European countries during epizootics in 1988 - 1989].

Retrospective VNTR-analysis of 159 Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica strains isolated in December 1988 - February 1989 in former USSR and some European countries was carried out. Analysis of heterogenic genotypes of strains allow to subdivide them into 30 groups of variants by individual genotypes, while cluster analysis--to subdivide them in 7 clusters with different number of compositions.

[Retrospective VNTR-analysis of genotypes of Vibrio cholerae 01 strains isolated, during the 7th cholera pandemic, in Rostov Region].

Antiplague Research Institute, Rostov-on-Don, Russia Retrospective multi-locus VNTR-analysis was made for 166 Vibrio cholerae strains isolated, 1967-2001, in Rostov Region from clinical samples (82 strains) and from water samples (84 strains). On the basis of cluster analysis of heterogeneous identification strain genotypes, 45 variations of individual strains were shared between 11 separate clusters, among which the F cluster vibrios were predominant. Having emerged, 1970, in the region, they were widely spread during the 1973-1975 cholera pandemic and were registered, among the isolated strains, till 1992 indicating the possibility of long persistence of V.

[The multi-locus VNTR-analysis in studies of the population structure of Yersinia pestis in natural foci].

A collection of Yersinia pestis strains was investigated by the multi-locus VNTR analysis. All 9 used locuses were diverse, although they differed between themselves by the quantity of genotypes displaying 4 to 13 variations in the sample. The diversity index (DI) ranged from 0.

[Multilocus VNTR-typing of Francisella tularensis strains].

In the analysis of F. tularensis genome with the use of the specially developed program "DNA" a great number of loci containing tandem repeats were found. For analysis, 3 of them were selected and designated as FtA, FtB, FtC.

[Characterization of Vibrio cholerae O1 cultures isolated from environmental objects on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2002].

The biological properties of 46 V. cholerae O1 eltor cultures isolated in 2002 from water environment on the territory of Russia are presented. All isolated vibrios proved to be typical in their cultural, morphological, biochemical and serological properties.

[Genotyping of the Francisella tularensis strains isolated from natural foci of tularemia in the Rostov region by multilocus VNTR analysis].

On the basis of an analysis of the VNTR alleles' distribution in 109 strains of F. tularensis it was established that 19 genotypes of the disease causative agent circulated in the Rostov Region from 1945 to 2002. The microbe-provoked infection episodes can be divided into polyclonal, monoclonal and cluster ones.

[Variable nucleotide tandem repeats (VNTR analysis) in Vibrio cholerae 0139 isolated from humans and from water of surface reservoirs in Russia].

The comparative study of variable tandem repeats (VNTR analysis) in genomes of V. cholerae 0139 isolated from humans and from water samples taken from surface reservoirs was carried out. The results of the study of the allele state of 5 loci of tandem repeats in 50 strains of vibrios, carried out in the double-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as well as the earlier comparison of the same isolates in the single-primer PCR, showed essential differences and the absence of clonality in the cultures of the clinical and aqueous origin.

[Dynamics of the isolation and biological properties of Vibrio cholerae cultures, serogroups 01 and 0139, isolated from water reservoirs and sewage water on the territory of the city of Rostov-on-Don].

The dynamics of the isolation of V. cholerae cultures from various water objects on the territory of Rostov-on-Don during the period of 1994-2001 was analyzed and biological properties of 14 such cultures were studied. In the absence of epidemic complications during the above-mentioned period, a growth in the amount of V.

[Genotyping of Yersinia pestis: variability of locus (CAAA)n in natural strains isolated in territory of former SSSR].

Genome polymorphism by the locus (CAAA)n was studied in 69 strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from natural foci of the former Soviet Union. The polymorphism was found to be represented by ten alleles in chromosomes, which could be regarded as evidence of variability of this VNTR-locus (diversity index, DI = 0.86).

[Variable tandem repeat VcA of Vibrio cholerae].

Computer analysis revealed seven potential variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) loci in the Vibrio cholerae genome. Specific primers were designed to amplify locus VcA located on chromosome 2 and containing a TGCTGT repeat. The locus was found in all tested strains from a V.

[Characterization of Vibrio cholerae eltor in the city of Kazan in 2001].

Information on V. cholerae eltor isolated in the focus of cholera in Kazan in 2001 at different periods of the outbreak is presented. The identity of strains isolated from patients, vibriocarriers and environmental objects, including their antibioticograms (sensitivity to cyprofloxacin and resistance to trimethoprim--sulfamethoxazole, streptomycin, furazolidone and nalidixic acid, which may be regarded as markers), is shown.

[Vibrio cholerae O139 isolated from humans and the water from open reservoirs: a comparative genotyping].

The comparative study of the genomes of V. cholerae O139 isolated from humans and from water of surface reservoirs was carried out with the use of single- and double-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The profiles of polymorphic DNA fragments obtained in this study made it possible to find out differences between groups of strains, as well as the individual features of some of them.

[Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Rostov Province: the epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak].

The results of the epidemiological analysis of the outbreak of hemorrhagic fever which was caused by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus and occurred during the period of July 3-19, 1999, in the Oblivskaya district of Rostov Province are presented. The specific epidemiological features of the outbreak have been determined. The possible versions of the appearance of the focus of infection and the role of Ixodes ticks in the circulation of the infective agent are discussed.

[The laboratory diagnosis of an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever at Oblivskaya village, Rostov Province: proof of the etiological role of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus].

The results of the molecular biological detection of the etiologic agent of hemorrhagic fever in Rostov Province are presented. The role of the causative agents of Astrakhan rickettsial fever, hemorrhagic fever with the renal syndrome, Q fever, leptospirosis and listeriosis has been excluded by means of such immunochemical reactions as the direct and indirect immunofluorescent tests, the solid-phase immunoenzyme assay, the complement fixation test and the agglutination test. The relationship between the cases of hemorrhagic fever in the focus of the outbreak and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus has been demonstrated due to the use of the polymerase chain reaction with preliminary reverse transcription.

[Noncultivatable forms of Francisella tularensis].

Conditions for the appearance of F. tularensis uncultivated forms and for their reversion into the initial state have been studied. As revealed in this study, the combined influence of stress factors (starvation and low temperature) may result in the transition of F.