SIMFEROPOL, May 6. /TASS/. Russia’s federal consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor expects that Zika virus will start spreading when the summer season begins, its head Anna Popova said on Friday.

"There will be spread. It will be most intense with the beginning of the summer season. In Russia, there are no conditions for the spread, but the conditions for penetration are still in place," she said.

Some 40 people were examined by Russian doctors over suspected infection. 

There have been two cases of Zika virus in Russia. The infected Russian nationals had arrived from the Dominican Republic and their treatment was successful.

Zika virus was isolated in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda. Last May, it began to spread rapidly in Brazil, then gaining ground in other countries of South and North America. Health officials report the virus penetrating 21 of 55 countries across the western hemisphere.

Medical professionals note special concern for infected pregnant women, whose children risk developing brain-damaging microcephaly.