KAMPALA, April 18. /TASS/. It is impossible to completely eradicate viruses such as Ebola, Lassa and Marburg in Africa, since they are "part of the viral landscape" of the region, the head of Russia’s sanitary watchdog, Anna Popova, said.
"Of course, the Ebola virus, Marburg fever, and Lassa fever are part of the viral landscape of Africa, so it is impossible to completely get rid of them here. It manifests itself in a variety of variants - sometimes several cases, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds of cases," she said on the sidelines of the first joint Russian-African international conference on the fight against infectious diseases.
These fevers are very severe, so it is very important to recognize them in time and take the necessary measures. "The transfer of our anti-epidemic technologies, laboratory diagnostic technologies, the use of our mobile laboratories is, of course, very important for African countries so that they can quickly recognize, diagnose [diseases], and help the people suffering as soon as possible," Popova concluded.
Russia’s sanitary watchdog specialists systematically participate in missions to provide assistance to partner countries on the African continent. Popova previously reported that in 2014-2016, the watchdog was part of efforts to eliminate the Ebola outbreak in the Republic of Guinea, and in 2017, it assisted Madagascar in dealing with its outbreak of the plague. Last year, department specialists participated in eradicating a major outbreak of intestinal infection in the Republic of the Congo.