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Russian watchdog keeping eye on unknown disease in South Sudan

There is little or no risk of this potential disease spreading to Russia," the watchdog pointed out

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia’s sanitary watchdog is keeping a close eye on the situation around an unknown disease in South Sudan, according to a statement published on the watchdog’s website on Wednesday.

The statement says that the watchdog "is closely following the situation in South Sudan." "Health protection measures in Russia make it possible to prevent infectious diseases from being brought to the country from African nations, including South Sudan (there are no direct flights). There is little or no risk of this potential disease spreading to Russia," the watchdog pointed out, adding that it continued to monitor the situation.

South Africa’s SABC radio station reported earlier that at least 89 people had died from an unknown disease in the eastern part of South Sudan in the previous several weeks. According to the news outlet, the World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched a task force to South Sudan’s state of Jonglei, the epicenter of the illness, in order to carry out emergency research. Local authorities, in turn, have reported numerous fatalities from an illness of unknown origin. Most of the sick live in the areas that were earlier affected by a major flood, which turned out to be the largest in the past 60 years. Initial assumptions that it could be cholera were not confirmed during the probes.

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