TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS SURVEILLANCE IN KAZAKHSTAN, 2019-2021

Abstract

Introduction. Tick-borne encephalitis is an urgent vector-borne disease, caused by Ixodidae ticks bites and consuming
row goat and cow's milk infected with TBE virus. TBE incidence in Kazakhstan is cyclical, which is associated with the
epidemic process and social factors affecting the foci of infection. The appearance of a new focus of infection is noted. Over
the last 10 years the average long-term incidence rate amounted to 0.19 per 100000 people.
Methods. The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate the existing surveillance system for TBE in
Kazakhstan. We investigated TBE surveillance in Kazakhstan by studying the main documents of the system: official data on
morbidity, case reports, guidelines and regulatory legal acts, annual reports of territorial Departments of sanitary and
epidemiological control.
Results. The results of the study revealed some gaps, such as shortage or low qualification of personnel, the speed of
information transfer between the levels of the system, the lack of a systematized electronic database, the low level of usage
of statistical methods in the analysis and interpretation of the collected data.
Conclusion. Since the results of the study were revealed to public health makers, there was improvement of the TBE
surveillance system. In last year studies have been actively conducted, forecasting of the epidemiological situation was
performed, and recommendations for preventive measures were issued.