Topic
Infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, known for historical epidemics like the Black Death and still endemic in wild rodents.
WHO and the US government are pressing Russia for epidemiological data after a researcher at an Irkutsk plague lab died, possibly of pneumonic plague. Biosecurity specialist Gregory Koblentz calls the epidemic risk minimal because antibiotics treat plague; what worries him is the secrecy.
Reality
The WHO said on Wednesday it cannot assess the risk from a suspected plague death in Siberia because Russia has not shared a full picture. Officials deny the worker's institute is involved while placing that same lab under quarantine.
Reality
The World Health Organization is working with Russian authorities after an employee at a Siberian research institute died of suspected pneumonic plague. Its spokesperson says the cause of death is unconfirmed and testing is still underway.
Reality
Russia's Irkutsk region put nearly 200 contacts under observation after a 28-year-old lab worker died of pneumonic plague, independent outlets report. Because the pathogen is treatable and spreads poorly, the open question is how the accident got past the lab's biosafety.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishersReality
Russian authorities put about 200 people under observation after a plague-lab technician died of what officials call pneumonia of unknown cause. The response is sized for plague, and how fast it unwinds as contacts test negative will say more than the edited statements.
Reality
An international team sequenced Yersinia pestis from teeth at four Siberian cemeteries and found it in 18 of 46 people, among them siblings and parents who appear to have died in the same outbreak. The work is published in Nature.
Reality