MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Tension over the growing cholera incidence in the world is growing, so imported cases in Russia are not out of the question, but medical institutions and checkpoints across the state border are ready for such situations, chief of sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said.
"There is a significant incidence of cholera in different countries, with a large number of deaths. Unfortunately, the risks of importation on the territory of the Russian Federation remain, and we assume that there will be some incidences," she told reporters.
"In May, we assessed the readiness of all medical institutions, all checkpoints, and all airports. All the critical control points have been identified. That is, we have increased the volume of our work and monitoring so as not to miss the infection, and we believe that this is absolutely correct, and we will continue this work. We are ready, but it’s crucial that we not let our guard down or reduce monitoring in any way."
Popova added that the "historical gates" of cholera to Europe are located in Donbass, Novorossiya and Crimea, making disease control there especially important.
"Vibrio cholerae lives and develops in water, we thought, only at temperatures above 16 degrees, and today we see that it can also survive at lower temperatures. This is why the warmer the air, the warmer the water, the greater the risk of the situation appearing and developing there. We have significantly increased cholera monitoring and have been conducting it since the very beginning of April," she concluded.
Cholera is a particularly dangerous infectious disease caused by vibrio cholerae. It occurs when the pathogen enters the body with contaminated food or water. Earlier, the World Health Organization said that almost 33,000 cases of cholera and more than 500 deaths from it were registered worldwide in March.