TBE in Kazakhstan

The first isolation of the TBEV in Kazakhstan was achieved in the Almaty region by M.P. Chumakov in 1941 (only one strain from one patient) during the expedition organized by the Central Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Moscow). This is proof that the clinically well-described “spring-summer encephalitis” in the Almaty region was in fact TBE. Later, in 1943, 1944 and 1945 the TBEV was also isolated from additional patients by local scientists from the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Laboratory of Virology in Alma-Ata by Prof. E. I. Demikhovsky. Isolation had been accomplished from CSF samples up to 8 days of illness and also from brain tissue on day 12.