Five people have been hospitalized in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on suspicion of monkeypox, and an epidemiological investigation has been launched, the website infohub.kz reports.
Specialists are working to establish the circumstances of a possible infection and to identify anyone who may have come into contact with the patients. As part of the epidemiological investigation, contact tracing is under way; five people have been hospitalized and are under medical observation, and an order has been issued to carry out disinfection.
The department added that specialists immediately began a sanitary and epidemiological investigation and organized a full set of anti-epidemic measures. Diagnosis relies on test systems developed and registered by Rospotrebnadzor that can detect the virus quickly. The investigation is continuing, and the agency said the situation is under its control.
Other cases were previously reported in Moscow Oblast on October 15. Five people who had contact with a person suspected of being infected with monkeypox were hospitalized there as a precaution. The regional Health Ministry said they had no symptoms and were in satisfactory condition. The patients were tested and placed under medical observation.
According to BAZA, five people were taken to hospital with symptoms of a viral illness: three men and two women aged 22 to 35. They lived in the same apartment. The outlet says they may have come into contact with the source of infection on October 12.
According to Mash, the patients were sent into a 21-day quarantine. The channel says contact with the possible source of infection occurred on October 10. It notes that on February 1, Domodedovo Hospital reported a confirmed diagnosis in a hospitalized patient, and the next day a person who had been in contact with that patient was admitted. On February 15, the disease was detected in St. Petersburg in two men who had returned from Thailand; they were hospitalized at Botkin Infectious Diseases Hospital.
In April, Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova described the global epidemiological situation as tense and said the infection could be imported into Russia. At the time, she said there was no risk of the disease spreading within the country.
Monkeypox is an infectious disease transmitted through close contact with an infected person, through contaminated objects and from infected animals. Symptoms appear within 1 to 21 days of infection. They include a painful rash, fever, swollen lymph nodes, headache, muscle pain and severe weakness. The disease can be severe and cause complications.