Penza, 4 June 2012. PenzaNews. Over a thousand residents of the Penza region have suffered animal bites in the first four months of 2012.

As the press service of the regional office of the Russian Consumer Protection Agency told news agency “PenzaNews,” three cases of tick-borne borreliosis were registered during this period.

“The situation with hemorrhagic fever with renal failure syndrome (HFRS) has considerably deteriorated with 78 cases revealed in the past four months in Nikolskiy, Kamenskiy, Shemysheyskiy district and Kondolskaya area of the Penza region,” the agency’s spokesperson noted.

HFRS risk groups include urban residents staying in forest areas for a short time or working in their gardens and land plots in the countryside.