Highlights d Antibodies to four COVID-19 vaccines differed in an observational study in Mongolia d Responses from high to low: Pfizer/BioNTech > AstraZeneca > Sputnik V > Sinopharm d Breakthrough infections in June to early July of 2021 were due mostly to the Alpha variant d After breakthrough infection, high antibody levels are seen in all vaccine groups

Although Mongolia is regarded as one of the possible places of plague radiation, only few data are available from Mongolian Yersinia pestis strains. In this study a total of 100 Mongolian Y. pestis strains isolated from wild mammals and their parasites between the years 1960 and 2007 were analyzed for their phenotype. All strains grew well on selective Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin agar and were positive for the F1-antigen, the F1-gene (caf1), and the plasminogen activator gene (pla). Biochemical analyses using the API20E® system identified 93% of the strains correctly as Y. pestis. The BWY in-house system consisting of 38 biochemical reactions was used to differentiate among Y. pestis subspecies pestis biovars Antiqua and Medievalis and also between the subspecies microtus biovars Ulegeica and Caucasica. Antibiotic susceptibility testing according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute-guidelines identified one strain as being multiresistant. This strain was isolated from a wildlife rodent with no anthropogenic influence and thus suggests naturally acquired resistance.

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The incidence of plague has rebounded in the Americas, Asia, and Africa alongside rapid globalization and climate change. Previous studies have shown local climate to have significant nonlinear effects on plague dynamics among rodent communities. We analyzed an 18-year database of plague, spanning 1998 to 2015, in the foci of Mongolia and China to trace the associations between marmot plague and climate factors. Our results suggested a density-dependent effect of precipitation and a geographic location-dependent effect of temperature on marmot plague. That is, a significantly positive relationship was evident between risk of plague and precipitation only when the marmot density exceeded a certain threshold. The geographical heterogeneity of the temperature effect and the contrasting slopes of influence for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and other regions in the study (nQTP) were primarily related to diversity of climate and landscape types.

In this announcement, we report the draft genome sequences of six Yersinia pestis strains (biovar Medievalis) that were isolated from the Zamyn-Ude region in Mongolia. These genomes reveal the genetic characteristics of the Y. pestis population circulating in a local plague focus.