[Genetic characteristics of the causative agent of tick-borne encephalitis in Mongolia].

A patient with diagnosed meningoencephalitis and a history of tick bite died in Mongolia in 2008. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the virus causing the ill person's death. The virus was identified using the phylogenetic analysis of the 520-bp fragment of the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) genome, which codes the fragment of TBEV protein E between 52-223 amino acids. TBEV RNA was detected in the samples of medulla oblongata, cerebral cortex, and pia mater of brain, but not in the cerebellar tissue. The study virus fragment was genetically closest to the representatives of the Far East subtype. Its closest relative was virus 740-84 (GenBank EU878282) isolated from large-toothed redback voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) in Buryatia and greatly differed from the Far East virus Soffin. Two amino acid substitutions (H86R and VI7A) were detected within the study protein E fragment. The paper is the first to describe the causative agent of tick-borne encephalitis on the territory of Mongolia and to discuss the evolution and pathogenicity of TBEV.

[Clinical and laboratory characterization of Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis in the Baikal area].

Materials on Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis (ITB) for the period of 2000 - 2003 (i.e. 1,222 blood serum samples from patients with acute ITB and 629 patients with chronic ITB) were analyzed. The proportion of seropositive samples among those obtained from patients with acute and chronic ITB was determined with the use of the indirect immunofluorescence test. In addition, data on different clinical forms of the disease were presented. A high percentage of neurological manifestations in the early period of ITB (31%) and in the late period of the disease (72.8%) was noted. The conclusion was made concerning the necessity of using several diagnostic methods for more exact determination of the structure of the disease.