No abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has historically caused far-reaching economic losses to many regions worldwide. FMD control has been problematic, and the disease is still prevalent in many West and Central Asia countries. Here, we review the progress made by Kazakhstan in achieving freedom from FMD and discuss some of the challenges associated with maintaining the FMD-free status, as evidenced by the occurrence of an outbreak in 2022. A combination of zoning, movement control, vaccination, and surveillance strategies led to eliminating the disease in the country. However, the circulation of the FMD virus in the region still imposes a risk for Kazakhstan, and coordinated strategies are ultimately needed to support disease elimination. The results presented here may help design effective pathways to progressively eliminate the disease in West and Central Asia while promoting the design and implementation of regional actions to support FMD control.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has long been recognized as a highly contagious, transboundary disease of livestock incurring substantial losses and burdens to animal production and trade across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Due to the recent emergence of the O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 lineage globally contributing to the expansion of FMD, molecular epidemiological investigations help in tracing the evolution of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) across endemic and newly affected regions. In this work, our phylogenetic analysis reveals that the recent FMDV incursions in Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan in 2021–2022 were due to the virus belonging to the O/ME-SA/Ind-2001e sublineage, belonging to the cluster from Cambodian FMDV isolates. The studied isolates varied by 1.0–4.0% at the VP1 nucleotide level. Vaccine matching tests indicated that the vaccination policy in the subregion should be tailored according to the peculiarities of the ongoing epidemiologic situation. The current vaccination should change from such vaccine strains as O1 Manisa (ME–SA), O no 2102/Zabaikalsky/2010 (O/ME-SA/Mya-98) (r1 = 0.05–0.28) to strains that most closely antigenically match the dominant lineage O No. 2212/Primorsky/2014 (O O/ME-SA//Mya-98) and O No. 2311/Zabaikalsky/2016 (O ME-SA/Ind-2001) (r1 = 0.66–1.0).

Cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease of farm livestock and humans which causes diarrhea and great economic disbenefit. This work aimed to identify Cryptosporidium species in the dairy cattle farm where the disease was noted in the North Kazakhstan Region. Freshly selected excrements specimens from 22 calves up to one month of age and 20 young animals up to one year old were examined by Heine (1982) for the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts, as well as for detecting C.parvum with the Fassisi Fa Bodia immunochromatography test. In two samples from young cattle, in which oocysts were microscopically detected, but the presence of C.parvum was not confirmed, the Cryptosporidium species was determined using the molecular biological methods. DNA was extracted using the QIAamp Stool Kit. DNA quality was monitored by electrophoresis. DNA quantification analysis was performed on the NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer. The PCR program was performed on the Mastercycler Gradient amplifier. PCR products were purified using the Quick PCR Purification Kit. An analysis of nucleotide sequences was performed using the Finch TV v1.3.1. software and BLAST. As a result, oocysts revealed in 68% of calves, which gave a positive reaction to C.parvum. Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in 10% of young animals which samples showed a negative result for the presence of C.parvum antigens. However, in them the C.andersoni species DNA was identified. Thus, in the north of Kazakhstan, two zoonotic species of Cryptosporidium have been identified in cattle.