Prokopyevsk Boarding Home Residents Hospitalized in Flu and Bacterial Outbreak

More than 50 residents who fell ill with flu at the psychoneurological boarding home in Prokopyevsk remain in hospitals across the region. The number of people in serious condition has increased, authorities reported on Friday, 30 January, during a public council on the situation at the social institution.

It became known that a total of 64 people have been hospitalized from the boarding home in Prokopyevsk since 24 January. However, specialists found that most did not have flu, but bacterial diseases, including positive swabs for streptococcus.

Those infected with the virus—24 residents—were sent to the Novokuznetsk infectious diseases hospital, while the others are at the Prokopyevsk medical center.

Three disabled individuals are in serious condition, 16 are in moderate condition. For some, as the Health Ministry reported, the disease is asymptomatic, but the diagnosis was confirmed upon examination.

The day before, doctors discharged 11 residents of the boarding home, and on 30 January, it is planned to send 10 more people back to the institution—all of them have negative swabs for bacteria and type A flu.

The head of the Ministry of Social Protection, Natalya Chaika, who has been part of the commission in Prokopyevsk in recent days, reported that two isolated rooms have now been organized in the boarding home. One building is for those suspected of having the disease, and the other is for quarantined discharged individuals.

Chaika reported that a total of about 440 people live in the boarding home, the vast majority of whom are incapacitated. They are now examined daily, and their temperature is measured.

The institution remains closed for quarantine, which was declared when the public learned of the outbreak.

The commission checked the temperature regime throughout the entire institution since 24 January. According to their data, in all buildings, the average temperature is 21–26 degrees Celsius (70–79°F). But in one of the rooms, a radiator had to be replaced.

At the same time, employees of the boarding home previously stated that management raised the temperature for the arrival of inspectors, although before that, residents, including bedridden ones, were tormented by cold and rotten food.

Doctors during the meeting confirmed that residents of boarding homes, due to pathologies and mental illnesses, do not complain about their health and may even deny symptoms. Specialists noted that they should have been constantly examined by staff.

According to the latest data, nine people have died in the social institution over the past month. A Moscow cardiologist told our editorial office that, despite the official cause of death, most died from heart complications, which could have been provoked by the flu detected in the institution.

The day before, messages and videos appeared online claiming that boarding home residents were allegedly beaten, chained, and fed rotting food. The NGS42.RU editorial office, in addition to details of the deaths, published photos of places where residents were buried. Even local residents did not know about the «cemetery» in the forest.

All the most important information about the mass illness and deaths at the Prokopyevsk psychoneurological boarding home we are covering in a special story.