Russia steps up sanitary, quarantine control to prevent monkeypox importation - Rospotrebnadzor head

MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - There have been no monkeypox cases in Russia to date yet sanitary and quarantine control has been intensified due to the risk of importation, head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova said.

"What is going on here, in Russia? We realize that yes, of course, importation is a possibility but all of us are on guard to prevent importation from developing into a global spread. Clearly, we have stepped up sanitary and quarantine control," Popova said at a meeting of the State Duma Healthcare Committee.

"At the same time, we perfectly understand that the 21-day incubation period far from always allows to identify a sick person, especially a person that is going through the incubation period or has contracted the infection while crossing the border. It is very important for us to have laboratory testing facilities," she said.

As of this date, "there are numerous cases of monkeypox importation in the territory of Europe and the United States. We have been spared as our contacts with the African continent are not so close," Popova said.

Russia has a PCR test for smallpox and it will be used if necessary, she said.

Monkeypox is also a kind of smallpox and has the same symptoms, Popova said. "The clinical symptoms as the same: fever, viral infection and the most prominent symptom - skin rash, just like chickenpox patients have," she said.