A 9-month-old girl from Tajikistan has been hospitalized in Moscow with polio as a Tajik outbreak reached the Russian capital, top government doctor Gennady Onishchenko said Thursday.
The baby and her parents arrived in Moscow on April 26 on a flight from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, Interfax reported.
Her parents sought medical assistance after she came down with a high fever.
Health authorities are trying to contact other passengers on the flight to check their health, said Onishchenko, chief of the Federal Consumer Protection Service.
He said a second 9-month-old Tajik girl was confirmed with polio in the Irkutsk regional town of Angarsk on Wednesday. The baby arrived with her parents from Tajikistan in early May, he said.
The polio cases are Russia's first in 15 years, he said.
Onishchenko on Monday banned children under the age of 6 from entering Russia from Tajikistan amid a polio outbreak that has killed 12 children there. Onishchenko last week banned imports of nuts and dried fruit from Tajikistan.
Onishchenko said Thursday that there was no risk of an outbreak in Russia.
"The situation is under control and largely depends on measures taken in Tajikistan," he told reporters.
Polio is a highly viral infectious disease that usually spreads person-to-person via food or water contaminated with fecal matter. Children are usually vaccinated against the disease, which can lead to paralysis. Once contracted, no symptoms often follow, and there is no cure.