Russian officials have claimed that mpox isn’t a risk due to their ‘traditional values’
A health worker carries a tray at the mpox treatment centre at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. (Getty)
Despite mpox spreading across the world, with cases identified in Africa, Sweden, and Pakistan, it seems that Russia is not overly concerned about the virus.
Anna Popova, the head of the Russian consumer protection watchdog, said there is no risk of mpox spreading in Russia, suggesting that it is because of the country’s “traditional values.”
The previous mpox outbreak in 2022-2023 saw gay and bisexual men disproportionately affected. However Mpox is not just a “gay disease”, as Mateo Prochazka, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the UKHSA, previously informed PinkNews.
Mpox is passed on through any close physical contact with someone who has the virus, including through coughs and sneezes. It’s not being gay or bisexual that spreads the virus, but that “behaviour facilitates transmission in these networks” because of the close contact involved, Prochazka explained.
In a video published on Monday by the Russian Telegram channel Slot, Popova said: “Considering the specifics of how mpox is spread, I am absolutely sure that in Russia with its traditional values, this disease, which is an epidemic disease, is not something we need to be afraid of.”
Her comments come after the World Health Organisation declared Mpox to be a global health emergency, saying that “a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives”.
The Russian consumer watchdog previously announced that there was “no threat of the disease spreading in Russia” but confirmed that the government would take “all the necessary measures to detect the infection ahead of time.”
The current mpox emergency is caused by a new, deadlier strain, named Clade 1, whereas the previous outbreak in 2022 was caused by a milder strain, Clade 2.
Russia reported a case of mpox in July 22 in a men who had recently returned from Portugal. The man was taken into isolation and the infection was curbed.
Popova said that Russia has seen three cases in total over the last two years, all of which were contained in good time: “We’re not expecting it to spread, it won’t happen.”
Russia is not known as an LGBTQ+ paradise, with its president Vladimir Putin cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights significantly in recent years by making gender-affirming surgery illegal and labelling the international LGBTQ+ movement as “an extremist organisation”.
Russia also criminalises all forms of LGBTQ+ activism, leading to arrests, police raids of gay clubs, and the shut-down of a number of LGBTQ+ groups.
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