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21-day isolation after contacting with mpox patients recommended — watchdog

It also recommended educating medics about mpox diagnosing

MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. Russia’s consumer rights watchdog recommends observing a three-week isolation period after contacting with mpox patients.

"To prevent the deterioration of the mpox epidemiological situation in Russia, it is necessary <…> to take measures to identify persons showing symptoms that don’t exclude mpox after arriving from epidemiologically unfavorable countries, to thoroughly take epidemiological history from persons seeking medical assistance care with symptoms not excluding mpox, first of all those arriving from abroad within 21 days," the watchdog said.

It also recommended educating medics about mpox diagnosing.

Mpox, formerly known as monketypox, is a rare viral disease which is endemic to remote regions near tropical forests of Central and Western Africa. The first case of an animal transmitting the disease to humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. According to the WHO, this virus is usually transmitted to humans by wild animals, such as rodents and primates, while its secondary spread among humans is limited. Usually the lethality coefficient during mpox outbreaks ranges from 1% to 10% with the majority of fatalities affecting younger age groups.

On August 14, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox a global public health emergency.