Isolated cases of Coxsackie virus have been recorded in patients in the Stavropol region in southwestern Russia, the region’s Deputy Health Minister Alexei Michaelis announced on Thursday.
“Isolated cases are identified, they correspond to the time of year, nothing more. The situation is stable (…). There is no epidemic or deviation from the number of identified patients,” he said at a press conference.
According to the regional branch of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor), active circulation of the virus has been recorded in the Stavropol region since August.
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“There has been seasonal traffic since August. This is a normal situation. We carry out surveillance and take targeted anti-epidemic measures for each case,” noted the deputy head of the local branch of Rospotrebnadzor, Irina Kovalchuk.
On November 5, Rospotrebnadzor launched a “hotline” in regions of Russia where cases of Coxsackie virus have been observed in Russians returning from Türkiye.
The Coxsackie virus is responsible for hand-foot-and-mouth syndrome, an infection which mainly affects children aged 5 to 7 years and which is characterized by the presence of vesicles in the hands, feet and mouth.
This pathology, most often benign, can also cause heart conditions, including myocarditis, inflammation of the myocardium (inside the heart), and pericarditis, inflammation of the pericardium (an envelope of the heart).
With MAP
Belgium
