FLASH
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A mysterious virus that causes patients to cough up blood and have a high fever has broken out in Russia. Local media and social media posts say the illness begins with Covid-like symptoms, such as weakness or muscle aches.
But within five days, these progress to a temperature of up to 39C and a persistent, bloody cough.
Posts on Telegram say cases have been reported in multiple cities, but officials have not confirmed how many cases or hospitalizations have been recorded.
The posts also claim that the patients have tested negative for Covid and flu, while doctors are treating it as 'acute upper respiratory tract infection of unspecified origin'.
The outbreak was first reported in the SHOT Telegram group, which allegedly includes members of Russia's federal agencies, and was then reported by local media.
Today, Russian health officials have denied there is an outbreak, saying they have found 'no evidence of a new or unidentified virus circulating in Russia'.
'An unknown virus has emerged in Russia. As SHOT has learned, those infected have been suffering from fever and severe coughing up blood for weeks, while testing negative for Covid and the flu.
"The symptoms of those who get sick are the same: it all starts with the usual aches and weakness, but after a couple of days the symptoms increase and it is impossible to get out of bed. Accompanied by a temperature of up to 39 degrees, Russians notice a strong cough," the message shared online says.
Alexandra, one of the patients, said that after a week of illness and taking antibiotics, her cough still persisted, and on the fifth day she noticed blood when she coughed.
Her tests for Covid and flu were both negative, while doctors had told her they were reporting multiple cases of a strange virus.
The post stated that she could be suffering from "mycoplasma pneumoniae", which can cause flu-like symptoms and pneumonia in patients.
It is also known as 'walking pneumonia' because it makes patients sick - but not enough to leave them bedridden.
Rospotrebnadzor, a Russian agency that oversees public health, said it was investigating the reports.
Gennady Onishchenko, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the Russian news agency TASS: 'In St Petersburg, we have the Pasteur Institute, which deals only with influenza, and its official report does not contain any information about any new virus.'
No control measures are reported to have been taken in Russia, while officials are said to be warning that "the spread of unverified public health information could lead to unnecessary panic."
Experts abroad have been unable to verify the reports, but have warned online that the situation in Russia is 'highly political'.
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