Concerns about another health emergency have been raised in Russia after reports of a mysterious illness affecting dozens of Russian tourists during their stay in the Vietnamese resort city of Nha Trang. Health authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the infection, as the reported cases have added to concerns among travelers. According to the Russian state news agency RIA, those affected have shown severe symptoms, including high fever, severe headaches, runny noses and persistent, intense coughs. The latter, according to reports, could last for weeks.
Vietnamese doctors treating the patients have yet to determine the exact cause of the illness. So far, suspicions are linked to a flu virus circulating in the area, while some of the patients have had to stay in bed due to their condition. Russia’s consumer protection and public health agency, Rospotrebnadzor, confirmed that it has sent official requests to Vietnam’s Ministry of Health and the Russian Association of Travel Agents, requesting immediate information and data on the reported cases. The health alert comes just five weeks after Russia faced concerns over a suspected case of plague in Siberia. In early October, a laboratory employee at the Irkutsk Plague Research Institute died after suffering severe pneumonia of unknown cause.
After the incident, authorities quarantined people who had come into contact with him, while denying reports of violations of biosecurity measures. However, Russian authorities and representatives of the tourism sector are trying to calm the situation. The Russian Association of the Tourism Industry told RIA that it had not received mass complaints from vacationers, while the Russian consulate in Ho Chi Minh City said that no Russian citizens had officially sought help due to an unknown illness.
Medical experts in Moscow have also called for calm, stressing that the symptoms could be linked to seasonal respiratory infections or common forms of influenza, and not necessarily to a new pathogen. Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised due to a previous investigation into possible cases of the Coxsackie virus among Russian tourists in Vietnam last month. Authorities are awaiting official test results from Hanoi to determine the nature of the infection. So far, there has been no official confirmation that it is a new virus or that it poses a risk of a new pandemic.
