Russian Consumer Safety Agency Monitors Novel Disease X Detected in Africa

The Russian consumer safety watchdog follows the information about outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and particularly monitors the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after reports on Disease X, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare told TASS on Sunday.

"Rospotrebnadzor (the consumer safety watchdog - TASS) closely monitors the reports on any outbreaks of infectious diseases, both new and recurrent infections, across the world," the statement says. "No cases with similar symptoms have been detected in Russia."

The regulator pointed out that it does not have enough information to establish the cause of that disease, but assumed that it is of "viral nature." Besides, the data is insufficient to make assumptions about how contagious and deadly the disease could be and about any risks of outbreaks, but "the threat should not be underestimated."

"The emergence of new diseases, including those with a high pandemic potential, is part of a natural evolutionary process. Therefore, the diversity of microorganisms surrounding us must be studied permanently and systematically," the watchdog added.

Earlier, CNN reported that Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, who was among the first scientists to discover the Ebola virus, warned of far more deadly diseases, which pass from animals to humans, to come out, causing a pandemic. The journalists named such illnesses as "Disease X." According to CNN, a female patient in Ingende, a town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), showed early symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever. However, she tested negative for the Ebola and other known viruses. The woman recovered, but the physicians were unable to establish the origins of the disease which symptoms...