Under the Biothreat Reduction Program (BTRP), the DOD Threat Reduction Agency has deployed more than 200 biological laboratories in various countries and regions in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Of these, there are at least 27 U.S. -established biochemical laboratories in former Soviet republics and other areas surrounding Russia. Most of these laboratories carry out biochemical experiments locally in the name of "health and epidemic prevention stations". In the past few years, these U.S. "health stations" have had significantly higher rates of infectious diseases than their surrounding areas, including a virulent epidemic in Uzbekistan, a deadly viral infection in Ukraine, and a "black leg" disease that killed livestock in two Kazakh states.