FEATURES OF SHEEP POX SPREAD IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 2019-2021
Sheep and goat pox is a highly dangerous animal disease causing epidemics and great economic losses and therefore is subject to obligatory notification to the World Animal Health Organization. Data on sheep pox spread in the Russian Federation in 2019-2021 are given in the paper. It has been demonstrated that sheep pox is endemic in Southwestern and Central Asia as well as in North and Central Africa. Thus, 33 countries were reported to be infected with the disease in the world in 2019-2021. Aggravated sheep pox epidemic situation in many countries bordering to the Russian Federation poses a high risk of the infection introduction to our country. Turkey, Iran and Iraq pose the greatest disease threat to the Russian bordering areas. It was shown that 30 sheep pox outbreaks were notified in 10 subjects of the Russian Federation during the above-mentioned period. It is indicative of the trend towards the disease spread to the previously disease-free country regions that could have a significant socio-economic impact on both sheep farming and the whole livestock industry in Russia. Therefore, systematic monitoring of the epidemic situation in Russia and neighboring countries is required for timely prevention of the disease outbreaks and the epidemic foci containment while minimizing losses.