Russia's consumer rights and human welfare watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has begun work to combat mpox in African countries, the agency said in a statement.
On August 19–23, the agency's specialists are conducting a series of courses on prevention and diagnostics in the Republic of Congo, the statement read.
In addition, Russian tests for detecting mpox have been probed and shown to be effective; they will be supplied to other countries, not just Congo.
"In order to assist foreign partners, Rospotrebnadzor will also provide other African countries with Russian tests for diagnosing monkeypox. Today, their production has been established in a number of institutes, in particular, in the Vector research center [in Siberia]," the statement said.
The watchdog added that since 2014, it has been cooperating with 10 African countries, where specialists monitor and study particularly dangerous infections.
In 2017, the Russian-Guinean Research Center for Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases was opened, which currently conducts up to 500 studies of pathogens per day. The Center's laboratory continues research on the spread of pathogens in natural focal infectious diseases as well as socially significant infections (such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, measles, and rubella).
Over the past seven years, 20 sets of reagents for detecting pathogens have been tested, 11 of which have undergone the registration procedure, Rospotrebnadzor noted.
Mpox is a rare viral disease found primarily in remote areas of central and western Africa, located near tropical forests. The first case of transmission of this disease from an animal to a human was recorded in the DR Congo in 1970.
According to the WHO, the virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals such as rodents and primates, and its secondary spread through human-to-human transmission is limited. Typically, the case fatality rate of mpox outbreaks ranges from 1% to 10%. However, most deaths occur in younger age groups.