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Sanitary watchdog says monkeypox prevented from spreading in Russia

The monkeypox situation remains under strict control by the agency

ST. PETERSBURG, September 23. /TASS/. Russia’s second monkeypox patient has been discharged from the hospital in St. Petersburg, the city’s branch of the federal sanitary watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Friday.

According to the supervisory body, anti-epidemic measures made it possible to prevent the disease from spreading. The monkeypox situation remains under strict control by the agency.

On September 8, the St. Petersburg branch of the watchdog announced that Russia’s second monkeypox case had been confirmed in a man returning from a European trip. Russia’s first monkeypox patient had a mild form of the disease and was discharged from a St. Petersburg hospital in late July.

According to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the global number of monkeypox cases has passed 62,000 since January and 23 patients have died. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on September 22 that daily cases were currently on the decline.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and western Africa. According to the WHO, it is transmitted to humans from animals such as rodents and monkeys, while human-to-human transmission is limited. The mortality rate for monkeypox ranges from 1% to 10%. There is no specific vaccine for monkeypox but smallpox vaccines are 85% effective in preventing the infection.