Fresh pandemic fears have gripped Russia after reports emerged of a second mysterious illness striking locals in the space of just two months. According to Russian state news agency RIA, health watchdogs have launched an urgent probe after holidaymakers began falling seriously ill with an unidentified bug while visiting the popular Vietnamese resort city of Nha Trang.
Alarming accounts circulating on Russian social media claim dozens of tourists have been struck down by the mystery infection, sparking panic among travellers and officials alike.
Symptoms and Diagnosis Struggle
Patients hit by the bug are reportedly suffering from a brutal combination of symptoms, including a soaring high temperature, severe headaches, a runny nose and a relentless, heavy cough that local medics say can linger for weeks.
Vietnamese doctors treating the affected holidaymakers have reportedly struggled to pin down an exact diagnosis, referring to the illness vaguely as a circulating flu virus while patients remain bedridden.
Official Response and Requests
Russia's consumer health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, confirmed it has made formal requests to both the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Association of Tour Operators of Russia demanding immediate answers and data on the outbreak.
The latest health scare comes barely five weeks after Russia was rocked by fears of a deadly plague outbreak in Siberia following the sudden death of a laboratory worker at an anti-plague research institute in Irkutsk.
Previous Scare and Current Reassurances
In early October, authorities were forced to place hospital contacts under quarantine and issue frantic denials over rumours of a biosecurity breach after the worker died from severe pneumonia of an undetermined cause. Despite growing alarm online over the latest Vietnamese holiday bug, Russian tourism bosses and diplomats have attempted to play down the crisis.
RIA reported that the Russian Union of Travel Industry insisted it had not received mass complaints from holidaymakers, while Russia's consulate in Ho Chi Minh City claimed no citizens had formally contacted diplomats for help over an unknown disease.
Medical experts in Moscow have also urged calm, suggesting the wave of sickness could be seasonal respiratory infections or standard flu strains rather than a brand-new pathogen. However, with Rospotrebnadzor having already investigated a separate Coxsackie virus scare among Russian tourists in Vietnam last month, officials remain on high alert as they await formal test results from Hanoi.
