MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th December, 2018) Georgia's recent response to Russia on the possible modification of the bacteria that caused the disease contracted by Russian children in Georgia last summer shows the involvement of the US-funded laboratory on the sanitary and epidemiological activities in the country, the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the agency's head, Anna Popova, argued that in summer, a group of Russian schoolchildren returned from Georgia in a grave condition after contracting an acute intestinal infection. Moreover, Russian researchers suggested that the variation of the bacteria that had caused the infection might have been artificially modified. Georgia's National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) said on Wednesday that the disease contracted by the Russian minors had been caused by E. coli bacteria, which was well-known to medics.
"The data released by Tbilisi on December 26 reaffirm the significant influence of the [Richard] Lugar center on the infection diseases diagnosis process and the whole range of sanitary and epidemiological activities, including emergency response and taking centralized precautionary measures on the Georgian territory," Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement.
The watchdog emphasized that Georgia had failed to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of the infection after the first Russian child contracted it on July 13. The agency said that after the incident, the group of Russian children continued its stay and planned trips in Georgia, creating risks for its members and for those surrounding them.
"As a result, new disease cases were registered until the children left for Russia while those ill were transferred from municipal to central medical organizations," the watchdog noted.
The agency argued that the Richard Lugar lab received the material on the infection contracted by the Russian minor on July 17 and subsequently confirmed the presence of E. coli bacteria in it.
