Former chief state sanitary doctor of Russia, State Duma deputy Gennady Onishchenko commented in an interview with RT on Saturday, August 8, the reports of the spread of the SFTS virus in China, which is transmitted to humans from ticks and causes acute fever with thrombocytopenic syndrome.
“Nothing bad will happen. There is also thrombocytopenia with coronavirus, ”Onishchenko said.
He noted that the news about SFTS appeared on Saturday and expressed hope that the situation will clear up on Sunday.
“There is nothing beyond the PRC. Moreover, today China is closed for visits, ”he stressed.
Virologist, doctor of medical sciences, professor Anatoly Altstein told RT that when this virus is affected, the number of platelets decreases, so the fever tends to hemorrhage, that is, to hemorrhages.
“This is a bunyavirus, this is a very large group, there are many pathogens. Some of them in Russia are also quite common, as for this virus – it was not isolated in Russia, ”said Altstein.
SFTS has been found in China and South Korea, he said.
The professor noted that there is no need to fear an epidemic of this disease, since, in general, the transmission of the virus is “not very effective from person to person.”
Earlier on Saturday, the media reported that more than 37 people were infected with a new infection in Jiangsu province in the east of China, and 23 people in Anhui province in the east of the country. It was also reported that at least seven people died.
As symptoms of the virus, doctors note fever, cough, a decrease in white blood cells and platelets. According to doctors, the infection is transmitted mainly through tick bites, but the possibility of transmission from person to person cannot be ruled out.
Virologists said that the causative agent of the disease was found nine years ago and belongs to the family of Bunyaviruses that infect vertebrates, arthropods and plants.