World Health Organization Issues Update on Russians Coughing Up Blood

The World Health Organization (WHO) has denied the reports of a new virus causing some patients in Russia to cough up blood.

The Context

Reports have been ongoing about an unidentified virus, centred in Moscow, that causes patients to cough up blood and suffer from prolonged high fever.

The rumors, which originated on the Telegram channel SHOT and were amplified by local media, centered on patients exhibiting severe respiratory symptoms but testing negative for influenza and COVID-19.

Russian authorities denied these reports last month, attributing any cases to common respiratory infections, including Mycoplasma pneumonias.

Rospotrebnadzor, a Russian agency responsible for overseeing consumer rights protection and public health, said in a statement that there is "no evidence of a new or unidentified virus circulating on the territory of the Russian Federation."

What To Know

Head of the WHO office in Moscow, Batyr Berdyklychev, told the Russian news agency TASS that data had been requested from Rospotrebnadzor to look into all these reports.

He said WHO had "received an explanation that there were indeed five cases of an unknown disease at that time" from the agency.

But these five cases, all in Moscow and the Moscow region, ended up being pneumonia caused by a mycoplasma infection, laboratory tests concluded.

"This is not a new virus," Berdyklychev said, "And, of course, the number of cases does not represent an increased epidemiological risk."

He added that "it is important to strengthen national systems for the early recognition of such viruses and for the exchange of this information and the coordination of efforts at the international level."

What People Are Saying

Berdyklychev said: "We are in fairly close and constant contact with national health authorities, in particular, with Rospotrebnadzor.

"This is a very good example of the fact that, say, the Russian Federation has a reliable epidemiological surveillance system. Why is this important? Because the possibility of a new pandemic always exists. All scientists acknowledge this, and the WHO says so."

Rospotrebnadzor said: "Currently, the epidemiological situation in the Russian Federation for a group of respiratory infections, including SARS, influenza, COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia, is stable and fully controlled. There is a decrease in the incidence rate. The epidemiological situation for this group of infections in Moscow is also stable.

"In Russia, there is a steady downward trend in the incidence of COVID-19: in the last week, 3 thousand cases, which is 20.2 percent less compared to the previous week. There is also a decrease in the incidence of ARVI and influenza by 10.8 percent for the last week. A decrease in the number of hospitalizations was recorded, which amounted to 8.6 percent. At the same time, the activity of influenza B and A (H1N1) viruses remains.

"The situation with the incidence of community-acquired pneumonia is also stable. The incidence rate last week corresponds to the indicators of the previous week and does not exceed the average value for the last month. During this period, there is no significant trend in the number of hospitalized.

"In the course of ongoing epidemiological monitoring and genomic surveillance in the Russian Federation, no new viruses or viruses with significant mutations have been detected."

What Happens Next

Rospotrebnadzor reiterated that "spreading unverified information about public health can lead to unnecessary panic" and urged the public to seek medical guidance through official channels.