Attempt To Dispel Cholera Fears

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32381, 21 August 1970, Page 11

Attempt To Dispel Cholera Fears

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) MOSCOW, August 20. The Soviet Union’s deputy chief medical officer yesterday tried to dispel fears that a cholera outbreak in southern Russia could no longer be brought under control and was spreading.

‘These rumours do not correspond to reality,” Dr Vladimir Popov said in an interview with the newspaper, ‘Trud.” The disease has only been confirmed officially as having occurred in the area of Astrakhan!, on the delta of the River Volga near the Caspian Sea.

However, a number of Moscow markets which receive fruit and vegetables from this area were closed on Monday for cleansing as part of a drive to prevent the disease spreading. Dr Popov warned the people not to panic. He said that the virus was being dealt with successfully by antibiotics

which were in plentiful supply- ' In Astrakhan itself, he continued, all offices and factories were working normally, quarantine restrictions were only applied to travellers, and industrial goods and other products were being sent to their destination as usual, after medical checks. He did not specify whether these products included food. There were temporary travel restrictions in accordance with customary international regulations about such diseases, Dr Popov said. Restrictions were being placed only on trips south which had not been arranged in advance.