ADDITION Russia Disease
This undated photo released in 2019 by the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East, shows the institute workers in a lab. ADDITION: adding photo was released in 2019
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Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring contacts of an employee a…
How Russia and the world are responding to a possible case of pneumonic plague after lab worker dies
The World Health Organization says that a possible case of pneumonic plague in Russia poses a "very low" risk outside the country. A lab employee died from pneumonia there last week, prompting an investigation by Russian officials. Pneumonic plague is a severe form that affects the lungs and spreads through respiratory particles but is treatable if caught early. Russian authorities have conducted preventive measures and say the situation is stable. WHO has not been asked to send experts to Russia but is monitoring the case. U.S. officials urge transparency, while experts note the pathogen's limited ability to spread due to modern medicine.
A top official with the World Health Organization says the U.N. health agency doesn’t know how a lab employee in Siberia died amid concerns about plague, and she called on Russia to provide more information. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic Management, said the agency doesn’t know what the “causative agent’ was behind the woman’s Oct. 2 death, and “this is why we need more information.”
