Europe is monitoring “very closely” a suspected case of pneumonic plague in eastern Russia, following the death of a lab worker, a European Commission spokesperson said Monday.
“We are aware of the reports concerning the laboratory incident in Russia, seemingly involving a pathogen-causing plague,” spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told reporters. “We are in touch with our experts from [the] European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and we monitor very closely what is going on.”
A 28-year-old employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East fell ill and died on Friday from what Alexei Tsydenov, head of the neighboring republic of Buryatia, said could be a case of pneumonic plague.
Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer watchdog, has not confirmed the exact cause of death, saying only that the employee died from “pneumonia of unknown etiology.” More than 200 people have been placed under observation following her death.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, usually found in small mammals and their fleas, according to the World Health Organization. It’s treatable by antibiotics, and it has been absent from Europe for more than 50 years, said Hrncirova, though it continues to appear in the Americas, Africa and Asia.
Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form of plague, as it can pass from person to person via respiratory particles. Its incubation is relatively short, with symptoms — including shortness of breath and coughing — appearing usually within 24 hours after infection. Plague’s mortality rate ranges from 30% to 100% if left untreated.
This is a developing story.