Virologists and other health specialists from Russia have arrived in Conakry, Guinea, West Africa to assist in tackling the historical Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak that has sickened more than 1,400 and killed in excess of 800. “Russian specialists have been tasked with providing the research and methodology aid to their local counterparts as well as with conducting an epidemiological analysis of the situation and developing recommendations to ensure infectious security,” Oleg Salagai, with the Russian Health Ministry said.
World-acclaimed Russian virologist Viktor Maleyev described the Ebola situation affecting West Africa as “worrying”, according to a PNA/ITAR-TASS report Monday. “The situation about the Ebola epidemics in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia is very worrying, there is a risk of the infection’s further expansion,” said Maleyev, who works at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Russia’s consumer rights protection authority. “But we should not panic, we must do something not to let the infections to run out of the borders of these countries.”
The Russian team that includes Maleyev and Professor Mikhail Shchelkanov of the Ivanovsky Research Institute of Virology are tasked to scrutinize the situation and see what can be done and how to help local medics. The Russian experts are expected to stay in Guinea till August 11. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
