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Botvinkin et al. One Health Implement Res 2023;3:125-34 One Health &
DOI: 10.20517/ohir.2023.19
Implementation Research

Original Article Open Access

Reemergence of arctic-like rabies virus in a rabies-
free area in the Amur river basin

Aleksandr D. Botvinkin 1 , Elena M. Poleshchuk 2 , Sergey A. Chupin 3 , Ivan D. Zarva 1 , Ivan V.
Meltsov 4 , Vasily A. Yanovich 5 , Nikolay G. Zinyakov 3 , Gennady N. Sidorov 2,6 , Evgeny Andaev 7 ,
Artem E. Metlin 8
1
Irkutsk State Medical University, Irkutsk 664003, Russia.
2
Omsk Research Institute for Natural Foci Infections, Omsk 644050, Russia.
3
Federal Centre for Animal Health, Vladimir 600901, Russia.
4
Irkutsk State Agrarian University, Irkutsk 664038, Russia.
5
Pacific State Medical University, Vladivostok 690002, Russia.
6
Omsk State Pedagogic University, Omsk 644099, Russia.
7
Irkutsk Research Antiplague Institute of Siberia and Far East, Irkutsk 664038, Russia.
8
Food and Agricultural Organization in the United Unions, Rome 00153, Italia.
Correspondence to: Dr. Aleksandr D. Botvinkin, Irkutsk State Medical University, 1, Krasnogo vosstania Str., Irkutsk 664003,
Russia. E-mail: botvinkin_ismu@mail.ru
How to cite this article: Botvinkin AD, Poleshchuk EM, Chupin SA, Zarva ID, Meltsov IV, Yanovich VA, Zinyakov NG, Sidorov
GN, Andaev E, Metlin AE. Reemergence of arctic-like rabies virus in a rabies-free area in the Amur river basin. One Health
Implement Res 2023;3:125-34. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ohir.2023.19
Received: 31 May 2023 First Decision: 2 Aug 2023 Revised: 23 Aug 2023 Accepted: 23 Oct 2023 Published: 30 Oct 2023
Academic Editors: Guilherme Werneck, Jose M. Martin-Moreno, Martin Pfeffer Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor:
Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
Background: A descriptive epidemiological study of the rabies outbreak in the Amur Region of Russia (ARR), which
remained rabies-free from 1972 to 2017, was carried out. During 2018-2022, 49 animal rabies cases and one
human rabies death were documented in the ARR. This study aimed to detect possible ways of incursion and
features of the spatial spread of rabies virus (RABV) in ARR, which was considered rabies-free for 45 years.

Methods: After the beginning of the outbreak, 1,450 animal brain samples were tested using a direct fluorescent
antibody test. Genetic analysis of RABV isolates was carried out (n = 9). GIS was used to analyze the spatial spread
of rabies in ARR and adjacent territories.

Results: Rabies has been confirmed in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) - 38.8%, raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) -
10.2%, wolves (Canis lupus) - 14.3%, dogs - 18.4% and farm animals - 18.3% (n = 49). The first cases were

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

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