Applying One Health approach to the study of West Nile fever in the Russian Federation

Introduction. West Nile fever is a zoonotic transmissible disease caused by flavivirus that primarily circulates in nature within an enzootic cycle between mosquitoes and birds, and causes disease cases in humans, horses, and other mammals. The rapid expansion of the West Nile fever pathogen range, development of outbreaks with severe clinical manifestations, and the lack of specific preventive tools have been the main arguments for classifying it as a poten­tially dangerous threat to global health. The close interconnection between human health, animal health, and ecosystems necessitates communication and coordination across the relevant sectors. One Health is an integrated, unifying approach aimed at optimizing the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems involving public health, veterinary and environment protection authorities. Objective. Analysis of basic epizootological data on the spread of West Nile fever in the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. The following international and Russian databases were used for literature searching: PubMed, Springer, Google Scholar, CrossRef and Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), еLibrary, CyberLeninka, respectively. The searching was performed based on the following key words: West Nile fever, One Health, migration of birds, invertebrate hosts, control measures. Results. In Russia, West Nile virus was first isolated in Astrakhan Oblast in 1963. Currently, presence of the pathogen has been proven in the southern and central regions of the European part of the country, in the south of Western Siberia and the Far East. The lack of disease monitoring in some Russian regions and small numbers of samples tested in most subjects of the Russian Federation hinder an objective assessment of the disease situation, so there is a need to increase the number of tests. It has been shown that the main carriers of the pathogen in our country are mosquitoes of the genera Culex, Anopheles and Aedes, ixodid, argasid and gamasid ticks are also involved in maintaining the virus circulation. The review describes the role of birds in the pathogen transmission, provides data on susceptibility of animals to the infection, discusses modern aspects of West Nile fever diagnosis, prevention and control. Conclusion. Surveillance of West Nile fever presents a considerable challenge, as the virus circulates among humans, arthropods, and birds. While vaccination is an effective preventive tool, no vaccines against the disease have yet been developed in Russia. In this context, strengthening inter-authority coordination and implementing environmental control measures to limit the virus spread are essential priorities.