TOMSK, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Scientists of the Siberian State Medical University (SSMU) in Tomsk will take part in a project on preventing infectious diseases, helping their Asian colleagues to fight the Ebola virus, dengue fever and AIDS in particular, the university’s rector said Thursday.
"We share your concerns about the Ebola virus and dengue fever. Despite the fact that Siberia is far away from Africa, we have a lot of foreign students,” SSMU’s acting rector Olga Kobyakova said, noting that in the near future Tomsk medical scientists would share their experiences with their Asian colleagues in a joint project.
"Dengue fever has begun to spread violently in Japan. It usually strikes people who have been to Africa. We had three infected patients just recently, and a week later already 50 people were infected. We are very concerned," a Tokyo representative said.
On Thursday, a summit of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21) began in Tomsk, where six delegations from Asian megacities will discuss how to improve the lives of citizens through new social initiatives. A delegation from Tokyo visited the medical school in Tomsk and discussed its involvement in the network’s infectious diseases prevention project.
The project currently focuses on the research into tuberculosis, influenza, AIDS, dengue fever and Ebola viruses, Hideo Maeda of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said. Asian megacities are going to pay specific attention to the fight against new viruses, and have asked Tomsk to join in their endeavor.
Dengue fever is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes, causing severe joint pain and high fever, potentially developing into a lethal complication called severe dengue, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Currently there are no vaccines or drugs to combat dengue fever and experts claim prevention is the only cure.
Another dangerous disease, the Ebola virus, which has a 90-percent mortality rate, has been raging in West Africa for months, its biggest outbreak in history. No licensed treatment or cure for Ebola has existed until now, although companies in the United States and Japan have been developing drugs to treat the disease.
