Batyr Berdyklychev, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) country office in Russia, has dismissed rumors of a new virus emerging in the country, local media reported on Friday.
Berdyklychev clarified that the recent suspected cases in Russia were linked to the known bacterial infection Mycoplasma pneumonia.
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He further stated that the WHO had requested relevant data from Russian authorities following reports of patients experiencing symptoms such as coughing up blood, according to NAN.
Following investigations, including laboratory confirmation, it was determined that the five reported cases in Moscow and the Moscow region were caused by mycoplasma pneumonia, Berdyklychev said.
This is not a new virus, and the number of cases doesn’t pose an increased epidemiological risk.
This is a very good example of the fact that the Russian Federation has set up a reliable epidemiological surveillance system, he added.
