A suspected case of plague in Siberia has triggered international concern, with the US monitoring the situation closely and the World Health Organization requesting more information. Russian officials have imposed sweeping quarantine measures in Irkutsk, where a lab worker at a local plague research centre died in hospital of pneumonia of unknown origin, according to the authorities. Officials said micro-organisms associated with her professional activities were not detected and insist there has been no outbreak.
On Wednesday, the WHO said it had requested further information from Russia to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of an undetermined cause. Russia’s health watchdog said on Wednesday that it had sent information regarding the situation in Irkutsk to WHO. This is what we know about the disease and the potential threats it presents.
Plague is a zoonotic disease that spreads from animals to humans and is often fatal if untreated. It is transmitted via fleas on small mammals and can spread person to person via respiratory particles or contact with contaminated fluids. The most common type is bubonic plague, which can evolve into pneumonic or septicaemic forms if untreated.
Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form from person to person. The lab worker, Daria Shipilova, died in a hospital in Shelekhov near Irkutsk on October 2. She had been admitted three days earlier.
Several local and federal news outlets reported, citing unnamed sources, that Shipilova died from pneumonic plague. Russia’s chief sanitary doctor visited Irkutsk the same day because of what the local governor described as a suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection. The governor said all of Shipilova’s contacts had been placed under observation.
Local officials said Shelekhov hospital had been de facto quarantined. Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said two days later on October 4 that Shipilova died from a pneumonia of unknown origin. The regulator added that her biological samples did not detect any micro-organisms linked to her professional work.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing