Five hospitalised after contact with suspected mpox case in Moscow region

Five people who had contact with a person suspected of being infected with mpox have been hospitalised in the Moscow region, the regional health ministry told Interfax and RIA Novosti on October 15. The ministry described the hospitalisations as preventive measures taken as part of its response to the possible infection. Its statement concerned people who had been in contact with the suspected case. [ 2 , 4 ]

The patients were placed under observation and samples were collected for testing, the ministry said. It described their condition as satisfactory and said they had no clinical manifestations of the disease. The ministry also said it was monitoring the situation. Interfax and RIA Novosti both reported these details, while RBC's summary also put the number of hospitalised contacts at five and described their admission as part of measures to prevent an epidemic. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

In a later statement reported by Interfax, the Moscow region office of Rospotrebnadzor said its specialists had immediately begun a sanitary and epidemiological investigation after receiving information about a possible mpox case. Interfax reported that five people were under medical observation. TASS also reported that Rospotrebnadzor had begun investigating information about a case in the region, while a later RIA Novosti headline said contacts were being identified. The reports described a suspected infection and the measures being taken in response; they did not give a confirmed test result for the suspected case or the five hospitalised contacts. [ 5 , 7 , 8 ]