[The epidemiological characteristics of brucellosis in the region of the northern Caucasus].

At present, the Northern Caucus Region is the most unfavourable brucellosis area of the Russian Federation where 43.5% of the total Russian incidence of this infection was recorded in 1993. Over the past years (1988-1993) there was a highly unsteady-state improvement of the epidemiological situation, however, the rates of human morbidity with this infection greatly lag behind those in Russia. The active foci of small cattle brucellosis as the leading source of human contamination with brucellosis are of major epidemiological importance. There is a trend to the activation of the epidemiological factors associated with the operation of individual-sector stock farms (such as farmers', peasants', rental and cooperative ones for processing agricultural products), which corresponds to the changes emerged in the economic mode of production in agricultural areas.