WHO assessed the risk of a plague epidemic in Russia following the death of a laboratory technician as low
Kyiv • UNN
The WHO considers the risk of an epidemic low following the death of a laboratory technician at the plague institute in Irkutsk. Contacts are under observation; no new cases have been detected.
The World Health Organization said that the risk of an epidemic in russia is low following the sudden death of a laboratory technician who worked at a research institute studying plague in Siberia. UNN reports this, citing The Guardian.
Details
The 28-year-old Darya Shipilova died last week, two days after falling ill. Russian media report that she may have been infected following an accident at her workplace, where dangerous pathogens are stored and studied.
Russian authorities downplayed the significance of the incident and said that Shipilova died from "pneumonia of unknown etiology." Strict quarantine measures were introduced at the research center in the city of Irkutsk and several nearby hospitals.
Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson, said on Tuesday, October 6, that there were no signs of a wider outbreak. "It is reported that all patient contacts have been identified and are being monitored for illness, and as of today, none of them has displayed symptoms of the disease," he said.
Russian officials are still investigating whether viral pneumonic plague caused Shipilova's death, but the WHO assessed the health risk as "moderate to low" for Irkutsk, "low" for the rest of russia, and "very low" for Europe, he said.
According to Russian media, 60 of Shipilova's colleagues have been confined to the institute where she worked since Friday, sleeping on floors and chairs while tests are being conducted. Similar measures were introduced in five hospitals, and relatives have been prohibited from seeing patients.
Kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov on Tuesday urged people not to listen to rumors but to rely on statements from russia's public health authority, rospotrebnadzor. He said that the situation in Irkutsk was stable and that no new cases of infectious diseases had been recorded among the institute's staff.
Washington is closely monitoring developments. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged moscow to release more details about the case.
U.S. President Donald Trump previously said that his administration was ready to offer assistance.
In what was apparently a mirror response, rospotrebnadzor announced that Rrosia was ready to help the United States combat its own outbreaks of infectious diseases.
"The situation regarding dangerous infectious diseases remains unstable," the statement said, highlighting a "significant deterioration" in the measles situation in three U.S. states and a "fatal case of plague" recorded in New Mexico in June.