MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Russia was not engaged in the World Health Organization (WHO) discussing and recognizing mpox as a global threat, Anna Popova, head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, said.

"An emergency situation is declared [over mpox], despite the fact that there is polio in the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that weekly, an enormous number of people are dying of cholera. And this decision was made without involving the two leading centers on mpox: neither Russia, nor the center in Atlanta was engaged in discussing this issue, in making a decision," she said at the 9th National Congress of Bacteriologists.

She specified that declaring mpox a public health emergency makes it possible for the WHO to earmark substantial funds.

Mpox is a rare viral disease which is endemic to remote regions near tropical forests of Central and Western Africa. Its symptoms include fever, rash, headaches, sore throat, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and back aches. The first case of the animal-to-human transmission of this disease 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 in the younger age groups.

On August 14, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern.