THE ROLE OF WILDLIFE IN THE EMERGENCE AND DISSEMINATION OF INFECTIOUS PATHOLOGY

Abstract

The article presents the results of research conducted within the framework of the "One Health" concept, which suggests a close relationship between wild fauna, domestic animals, humans, and the environment. In some cases, this relationship can lead to a disruption of the sustainable balance of the ecosystem's components.

Biotic factors in one of the links of the ecosystem, in the form of various pathogens, can cause the emergence and spread of infectious diseases that determine the involvement of other links of the ecosystem in the pathological process.

In our case, the determining factor was the presence of disease among saigas, which, due to their ethological characteristics, such as their constant migration over long distances and their transboundary nature, became a source of infection and spread the disease to the border areas of the West Kazakhstan region, where livestock farming is conducted.

This is due to the formation of an epizootic chain, which includes sick saigas as a source of the infectious agent, contaminated pastures and water sources as transmission factors, and susceptible farm animals. Sick saigas with clinical signs of a particularly dangerous infectious disease, such as foot-and-mouth disease, which is highly contagious, polyhostal for ungulates, and has multiple transmission routes, as well as a short incubation period, have caused the emergence and spread of the disease in livestock areas in the West Kazakhstan Region. Another contributing factor is the excessive growth of the Ural saiga population, the displacement of wild species to new territories, and close contact with domesticated farm animals, which has led to veterinary risks, with sick wild animals being the main vector.