Russia has reported a possible local outbreak of monkeypox
A new case of monkeypox detected in the Moscow region may indicate the start of local transmission of the infection in Russia.
This was stated by Gennady Onishchenko, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an epidemiologist.
According to him, this is already the third case of the disease in the country this year, raising concerns about the situation regarding infection control.
“The fact that this is already the third case this year in Russia is bad. It indicates that local transmission is already taking place here,” Onishchenko noted.
At the same time, he emphasized that the monkeypox virus is transmitted primarily through close contact and is not highly contagious, but has the ability to adapt to humans.
According to reports, on April 13, Rospotrebnadzor recorded a case of the disease in the Moscow region. The patient was hospitalized.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease transmitted from animals to humans. The pathogen belongs to the orthopoxvirus family and is related to the smallpox virus, but it typically has a milder course and a lower fatality rate.
The main symptoms in the early stages resemble the flu: fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, and swollen lymph nodes. A few days after the first signs appear, a characteristic rash may develop.
The incubation period is usually 5 to 21 days, with symptoms most often appearing 6–13 days after infection.
The main routes of transmission are close contact with an infected person or animal; less commonly, airborne transmission occurs during prolonged contact.
As a reminder, the number of cases of infection with the mutated mpox strain, formerly known as monkeypox, has risen sharply in Europe.
Two more cases of the new mpox strain have been reported in the United Kingdom. The country’s authorities are preparing for the further spread of the disease.
