Impact of Climatic Changes on the Spread of Dirofilariasis in the Kursk Region

The article considers an impact of climatic changes and an average temperature increase of the Earth's surface on dirofilariasis spread in the Kursk Region. Climatic changes are irreversible and an urgent problem for the modern world. In this regard, vector-borne diseases specific for a certain climatic zone are increasingly found in areas where the manifestation of such diseases is not typical. Dirofilariasis is a transmissible infection caused by nematodes of the genus Dirofilaria. Intermediate hosts of nematodes Dirofilaria repens and D. immitis are Culicidae mosquitoes. Due to an increase in the average annual temperature, the spread of this helminthiasis vectors increases, which contributes to a more active disease circulation and the infection of a larger number of obligate definitive hosts (dogs, less often cats) and people. There also occurs a human infection caused by "basement" mosquitoes in the presence of infected stray animals in urban conditions throughout the year. According to the State Report materials on sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population in the Kursk Region, human dirofilariasis cases have been observed over the past decades; previously this parasitosis was mainly found in more southern regions of the Russian Federation.