Epidemiological surveillance of diphtheria in the Republic of Uzbekistan

The authors made a retrospective epidemiological analysis of diphtheria morbidity in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1925-2000. After obligatory immunization against diphtheria was adopted, its morbidity was found to drop drastically (intensive rate was 0.13 per 100,000 population). However, in 1995 there was about a three-fold increase in diphtheria morbidity as compared with 1994. The majority (72.9%) of patients were notified in the Surkhandaryinsk and Kashkadaryinsk Regions and Tashkent, which was due to the fact that there were a large number of seronegative subjects in the above areas. Since 1995, mass double and triple immunization of the population of Uzbekistan has eradicated diphtheria in all areas of the Republic. Active immunization is a key factor that retards the intensity of an epidemic process in diphtheria.

diphtheria, immunization, epidemiological surveillance