MOSCOW, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Several African and ex-Soviet

countries have expressed interest in buying Russia's vaccine

against smallpox and mpox viruses, as well as testing systems

and antiviral treatments, Russia's consumer and health watchdog

told Reuters.

The vaccine, called Orthopoxvac, was developed by the Vektor

laboratory in Siberia and registered by Russia's health ministry

in 2022 following clinical trials, which, according to Vektor,

showed that the vaccine is safe and effective.

The trial results have not been published.

"The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, the

Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as the African

countries most affected by the mpox outbreak, have expressed

interest in acquiring Russian treatments," the watchdog told

Reuters.

It did not say which countries expressed interest.

Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close

contact, causing flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Most

cases are mild, but the disease can also be fatal.

In August, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a

global public health emergency after an mpox outbreak in

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that had spread to

neighbouring countries and beyond.

The DRC and Rwandan governments did not respond to requests

for comment about the Russian vaccine.

Spokespeople for the health ministries in Burundi and Uganda

and a senior public health executive in Nigeria said they had no

knowledge of efforts to buy Russian mpox vaccines.

A senior public health executive in Uzbekistan said the

government did not need the vaccine because there had been no

mpox cases in the country.

The governments of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and

Georgia did not immediately respond.

Some countries, including the United States and France, have

pledged to donate doses of the two main vaccines against the

virus made by Bavarian Nordic ( BVNKF ) and KM Biologics to

combat the outbreak.

Scientific papers published by Vektor researchers show the

laboratory has worked on the vaccine since at least 2015.

However, it has not yet published trial results, and the shot

has not been approved by regulators outside Russia.

Vektor, which reports to the consumer and health watchdog,

did not respond to a request for comment.

The watchdog did not say how much of the vaccine Russia has

in stock. Russia has had two cases of mpox so far, according to

data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski and Gleb Stolyarov;

Additional reporting by Clement Manirabarusha in Bujumbura,

Burundi, Elias Biryabarema in Kampala, Uganda, MacDonald

Dzirutwe in Lagos and Ange Kasongo in Kinshasa, Muhammadsharif

Mamatkulov in Tashkent and Maria Gordeeva in Almaty;

Editing by Josephine Mason and Ros Russell)