I note the Russians use thermography equipment quite frequently in their medical diagnostic and physiological research whne other measures are normally indicated. Is that because they have access to that equipment or is it a more accurate measure?

Maybe thermography equipment has radically improved in recent years. I remember reading reports of immigration/health officials in Singapore using whole body scanning equipment to detect aberrant temperatures (and possible infection) during the bird flu scare. It seemed to be sligthly longer than a walk thru' metal detector, and gave near instantaneous display output!