United Nations: As concerns grew around the world over a plague outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that the risk of its spread was “very low”.
A technician who worked in a Russian plague research laboratory died last week under unclear circumstances, leading to worries about an outbreak.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that all of the patients’ contacts had reportedly been identified and were being monitored for illness, and that none had so far shown symptoms of plague.
“According to the test results, no pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases were detected among any of the contacts,” he added.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, where the WHO is headquartered, Lindmeier said the organisation “estimates the risk to be moderate to low for Irkutsk, a low risk for the Russian Federation as a whole and very low for the WHO European region”.
He also said that, according to the Russian authorities, the woman’s illness initially presented as a typical acute respiratory viral infection.
Lindmeier noted that the institute studies dangerous pathogens, including plague, in a part of Siberia where plague occurs naturally in wild animals.
After media reports surfaced about the technician’s death, he said the WHO had contacted Russia and was monitoring the situation.
Some reports said she became ill after breaking a test tube last month and later developed pneumonia, a condition that can be caused by plague.
Reflecting the broader concern over plague risk, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We’re watching it very closely, hour by hour.”
He added that there might be nothing unusual, but it was not yet clear whether the situation was more serious than initially thought.
Calling for Moscow’s cooperation, Rubio said it was incumbent upon Russia to share more information with the world.
Some of the concern stems from the Covid pandemic, which is believed by some to have originated from a laboratory leak.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed the risks, saying that the Russian health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, was on top of the situation and urging people not to listen to rumours or speculation.
According to the WHO, plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is usually found in small mammals and their fleas and can be transmitted to people through bites.
It can also cause infections through direct contact with infected tissues and through the inhalation of infected respiratory particles.
“Bubonic plague is characterised by painful swollen lymph nodes, or ‘buboes’. Less common, but severe forms include septicaemic [blood infection] and pneumonic plague,” the WHO said.
(IANS)
