[The current status of foci of tick-borne relapsing fever in the western Pamirs].

For the first time in the last 20-50 years foci of tick-borne relapsing fever have been surveyed in the western Pamirs. Settlements in the Piandzha valley were shown to be (as in the 1930s and 1960s) affected by Ornithodoros papillipes Bir., the carrier of the infection. Though the number of ticks is still rather high, it is nowadays considerably reduced. The findings suggest a tendency towards a decrease in the infestation of the carrier population with the agent of the disease. The traditional type of construction (especially widespread in far-off regions), when houses are built in such a way that living rooms are joined with stables inhabited by ticks, ensures favourable conditions for the existence of tick-borne relapsing fever foci and the contact of people with the agent of the infection. This demonstrates high epidemiological danger of the infection foci in the western Pamirs.