[The characteristics of cholera prevalence and of the performance of epidemic-control measures in small settlements of Dagestan]. / Osobennosti rasprostraneniia kholery i provedeniia protivoépidemicheskikh meropriiatii v nebol'shikh naselennykh punktakh Dagestana.

The present work deals with summarizing the experience obtained by the specialized antiepidemic brigade of the Rostov-on-Don Research Institute for Plague Control in the work on the liquidation of cholera in some regions of Daghestan with a view to discussing the problems of improvement of anticholera measures. The characteristic features of the epidemic process were its explosive character, sparseness of the foci of infection, the prevalence of its transmission through everyday contacts (family contacts and intensive tribal contacts) and essential delays in taking anticholera measures due to sudden appearance of outbreaks, remoteness of small settlements and the lack of manpower and means for carrying out anticholera measures at a given place and time, as well as delays in epidemiological analysis carried out by local health service bodies. Delays in carrying out such measures led to the spread of infection both within settlements and in the whole region and further in the republic. The epidemic process was complicated by the antibiotic resistance of V.cholerae strains circulating on this territory. All these factors formed specific epidemic situation which introduced amendments into the organization of anticholera measures.

[The preservation of the causative agent of cholera in the water supplies of the central regions of Dagestan (experimental data)]. / O sokhranenii vozbuditelia kholery v vodnykh istochnikakh tsentral'nykh raionov Dagestana (éksperimental'nye dannye).

The acidic pH of water of surface water reservoirs in Izberbash and two adjoining regions, including sea water, seems to be unfavorable for the prolonged preservation of Vibrio cholerae eltor, but additional ecological investigations are necessary to study the possibility for infection to take root at this territory. Water from the Zam-Zam spring, if contaminated with V. cholerae, may serve as a transmission factor, but the duration of its action is limited by the survival term of V. cholerae. The water route of transmission did not play any essential role in the spread of cholera in the central regions of Daghestan.