The White House is monitoring reports of a possible plague outbreak in Russia’s Irkutsk region following the death of an employee of an anti-plague institute. The U.S. administration said it was aware of the situation and was assessing possible courses of action, Axios reports, writes UNN.
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The White House is aware of the situation, monitoring the outbreak and assessing options
Attention was drawn to the situation by the death of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. She was hospitalized with severe pneumonia on September 29 and died during the night of October 2. Russian media and Telegram channels reported that several days earlier the woman had allegedly broken a test tube containing the plague pathogen, but there is no official confirmation of this.
Russia denies a pathogen leak
The Russian Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) said that two commissions had found no accidents during work with pathogenic microorganisms. According to the official version, the deceased woman was diagnosed with "pneumonia of unknown etiology," and microorganisms linked to her professional activity were allegedly not found in the samples.
At the same time, the anti-plague institute introduced quarantine and isolated the widest possible circle of people who had contact with the woman. The Russian authorities claim that there are currently no signs of infectious disease among the contacts.
Plague can be treated with antibiotics if therapy is started promptly. The pneumonic form is particularly dangerous: it can be transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets and progresses rapidly without timely treatment.