bibliography

Rusev, I. 2026. The role of the Odessa Anti-Plague Station in the system for monitoring natural foci of zoonoses (a historical overview). Novitates Theriologicae, 18: 147–156. https://doi.org/10.53452/nt1816

title

The role of the Odessa Anti-Plague Station in the system for monitoring natural foci of zoonoses (a historical overview)

author(s)

Ivan Rusev (Tuzlivski Lymany National Nature Park, Tatarbunary, Ukraine)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4993-3672

abstract

The participation of zoologists in the prevention of plague and other highly dangerous infectious diseases began in the late 1930s with the monitoring of international vessels for the presence of rats arriving on ships at the ports of Odessa. With the reorganisation of the Odessa Anti-Plague Laboratory into the Anti-Plague Station, the scope of zoologists’ activities expanded. Zoologists played a key role in the epizootiological investigation of natural plague foci in the Aral Sea Karakum Desert, and in monitoring natural foci of tularemia, leptospirosis and other highly dangerous diseases across Ukraine. From the mid-1980s onwards, an important role for the station’s zoologists was assigned to the monitoring of arboviruses — West Nile fever, tick-borne encephalitis, Sindbis and others. At the same time, the Odessa Anti-Plague Station began hosting All-Union specialist training courses. With the establishment of the I. Mechnikov Ukrainian Research Institute of Plague Control at the Odessa Anti-Plague Station, the scope of monitoring for highly dangerous infections was expanded, and in-depth research began into the role of wildlife in maintaining and activating natural foci under the influence of environmental and anthropogenic factors.

language

Ukrainian, with English summary

references

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date

online: 30.01.2026; print: 30.01.2026