The Main Risks of an Еpidemic Emergency Associated with New Respiratory Viruses

Abstract

Relevance. The conceptual task of epidemiological surveillance as part of the sanitary protection of the territory of the Russian Federation (RF) from the importation and spread of diseases that pose a danger to the population at the present stage is to identify potential risks of a sanitary and еpidemic emergency and prompt response if they occur. Epidemic manifestations of diseases caused by new respiratory viruses, in most cases, cause a crisis in public health, which indicates the need for a comprehensive study of the features of their course, determination of criteria for the potential risk of an emergency of an еpidemic nature, which will make it possible to timely organize a complex of anti-epidemic (preventive) measures. Aim. Study, systematize and stratify the features of the atypical course of the epidemic process of acute respiratory viral infections caused by new variants of the pathogen in a city with a population of more than one million people. Materials and methods. The study used retrospective data on infectious morbidity in different age groups from government reports for the period 2015–2020, data from annual forms No. 2 of the federal state statistical observation for the period 2009–2020. Rospotrebnadzor Administration for the Rostov Region, Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Rostov Region. Statistical data processing was carried out by a generally accepted method. Results. The analysis showed that the periods 2009–2010, 2015–2016, 2020–2021 had significant changes in the epidemic process in relation to its typical long-term course with a predominance in the structure of the incidence of ARVI, including influenza and new coronavirus infection, of various age groups for each period, an atypically severe infectious process and an increase in the number of community-acquired pneumonia. Moreover, in the periods 2009–2010, 2015–2016. Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 virus was dominant in the etiological structure, in 2020–2021 – the causative agent of the new coronavirus infection SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the features of the epidemic (against the backdrop of a pandemic) spread of ARVI in Rostov-on-Don, established as a result of a retrospective analysis, made it possible to differentiate the main-external and internal-risks of the formation of emergencies of an еpidemic nature associated with new respiratory viruses in a city with a population of more than one million people.