Risk factors and spatio-temporal patterns of livestock anthrax in Khuvsgul Province, Mongolia.

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Tuvshinzaya Zorigt, Satoshi Ito, Norikazu Isoda, Yoshikazu Furuta, Misheck Shawa, Natsagdorj Norov, Baasansuren Lkham, Jargalsaikhan Enkhtuya, Hideaki Higashi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
• Subjects: Medicine; R; Science; Q; permafrost
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260299; https://doaj.org/article/4e4c8a7520bd4be1af7e8790db61afef

Anthrax is a worldwide zoonotic disease. Anthrax has long been a public health and socio-economic issue in Mongolia. Presently, there is no spatial information on carcass burial sites as a potential hazard of future anthrax outbreaks and possible risk factors associated with anthrax occurrences in Mongolia. Here, we analyze retrospective data (1986-2015) on the disposal sites of livestock carcasses to describe historical spatio-temporal patterns of livestock anthrax in Khuvsgul Province, which showed the highest anthrax incidence rate in Mongolia. From the results of spatial mean and standard deviational ellipse analyses, we found that the anthrax spatial distribution in livestock did not change over the study period, indicating a localized source of exposure. The multi-distance spatial cluster analysis showed that carcass sites distributed in the study area are clustered. Using kernel density estimation analysis on carcass sites, we identified two anthrax hotspots in low-lying areas around the south and north regions. Notably, this study disclosed a new hotspot in the northern part that emerged in the last decade of the 30-year study period. The highest proportion of cases was recorded in cattle, whose prevalence per area was highest in six districts (i.e., Murun, Chandmani-Undur, Khatgal, Ikh-Uul, Tosontsengel, and Tsagaan-Uul), suggesting that vaccination should prioritize cattle in these districts. Furthermore, size of outbreaks was influenced by the annual summer mean air temperature of Khuvsgul Province, probably by affecting the permafrost freeze-thawing activity.