"At present, official sources on the Russian side and international public health organisations have not published information confirming human plague cases on the territory of the Russian Federation", the inspectorate, known as GIS, said. It said its travel advice was in line with Foreign Ministry recommendations.
Local media, cited by the US news site Axios, reported that Daria Shipilova, 28, who worked at a plague research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region, broke a vial containing the pneumonic plague pathogen on Sept. 25. She was admitted to hospital four days later with severe pneumonia and died overnight on October 1-2.
Russian media have suggested she may have contracted plague, but health authorities have not confirmed that. Russia's public health agency said she had "pneumonia of unknown aetiology" and that further tests found no micro-organisms linked to her work. It said the epidemiological situation in the region remained stable.
Several medical facilities in the region were placed under quarantine, and about 200 people who had contact with her are under medical observation.
Regional governor Igor Kobzev said none of them have shown symptoms and all test results were negative. The health agency said the epidemiological situation in the region remains stable.
The European Commission is monitoring the incident and is in touch with experts at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the situation was being watched but was not for now a cause for alarm.
GIS said plague has not been recorded in Europe for more than 50 years, though cases still occur in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Poland's last cases date to a late 18th-century epidemic, and Russia's last recorded plague case was in 2016. The disease remains present in Mongolia, including areas near the Russian border.
The inspectorate said the disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, no longer poses a major threat but has not disappeared because the bacterium persists in animal reservoirs, chiefly rats. It takes three forms: bubonic, now the most common; pneumonic, which can spread between people through droplets; and septicaemic, in which the bacteria multiply in the blood.
Symptoms usually appear within days, and antibiotics work best if started within 24 hours. GIS advised travellers to endemic regions to avoid wild rodents, use flea repellent and wash their hands regularly.
(jh)
Source: PAP