Changes in the Role of Mammals in Human Hydrophobia Infecting in Russia over the Historically Observable Period of the 16th to 21st Centuries

• Published in: Biology bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2023-12, Vol.50 (8), p.2019-2033
• Main Authors: Sidorov, G. N., Poleshchuk, E. M., Sidorova, D. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; 20th century; 21st century; Animal bites; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Ecology; Epidemics; Infections; Insectivores; Life Sciences; Livestock; Rabies; World War II; Zoology
• ISSN: 1062-3590; 1608-3059
• DOI: 10.1134/S1062359023080265

—An analysis of changes in the role of mammals in the infection of humans with hydrophobia in Russia for the period 1534–2017 is presented. Human deaths when dealing with dogs have continually been recorded since the 16th century. The share of dogs in human hydrophobia infection reached 85% from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. In the 1960s and 1970s, it decreased to 30–35%, but in the early 21st century, it increased again to 43%. The role of cats in infecting humans has been reliably traced since the late 19th century, and it has increased from 2 to 18% over the last 130 years. The epidemic value of foxes is cyclical. In the late 18th century, fox rabies in Russia was not known. People died from hydrophobia after fox bites in the early 19th century, but since 1825 cases of human hydrophobia due to contacts with foxes were no more recorded. Foxes again started infecting people only from the 1940s. In some years from the 1970s to the 1990s, foxes were the source of hydrophobia in 50–52% cases. In the 21st century, the role of foxes in human infection has decreased to 16%, but the value of that predator in animal infection increased to almost 50%. The wolf has infected people throughout the historical record. Before World War II, the epidemic value of the wolf reached 19%, but since the second half of the 20th century and in the 21st century, the death of people caused by wolf bites has varied within 2–7% cases. The raccoon dog started infecting people after World War II (0.4%). Its epidemic role has slowly increased and reached 11% in the 21st century. The corsak, the badger, the marten, the ferret, and the Arctic Fox rarely infect people, but they have participated in the epidemic process for at least 50 years, while the Arctic Fox has for 100 years. Over the territory of Russia, only two cases of human death have been recorded from hydrophobia after a bat bite, one in 1985 and the other in 2008. Cattle have infected humans throughout the observable past five centuries, but not too often, 0.3–2% cases. Small livestock, horses, and pigs have been extremely rare as an epidemic danger for at least the last 130 years. In Russia, people have never been infected with rabies received from insectivores, while that obtained from rodents has been recorded only three times: two from gophers and one from a squirrel.