MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense is conducting research of highly dangerous infectious agents in Zambia, Major General Alexey Rtishchev, deputy chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, said at a briefing.

"This year, the Pentagon started active research of highly dangerous infectious agents in Zambia. At the same time, funding was directed at improving the capacity of military medical facilities and retraining medical personnel," he noted.

According to Rtishchev, "the United States is working with South Africa to establish a collaborative study of the monkeypox virus at the South African Institute for Vector-borne Diseases."

"Washington has donated 10,000 doses of a vaccine for the disease, produced by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, which has not received final approval from the WHO and can be used only in high-risk individuals," he added.