US President Donald Trump said Tuesday (local time) that he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible case of plague at a research institute in Siberia, as Russian health authorities continue investigating the death of an employee.
What Russian officials have said
The development comes after an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia died last week. Russian authorities have attributed her death to pneumonia of an unknown cause, while health officials investigate whether it could be linked to plague. “It’s a rough disease. You know, that’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter. Pneumonic plague is a form of plague that affects the lungs and is considered the most virulent form of the disease. Unlike the more common bubonic plague, pneumonic plague can spread between people through respiratory particles. The woman died at a hospital in Shelekhov, a town near Irkutsk.
Its incubation period can be as short as 24 hours, according to WHO.
They’re like an army,” Trump told reporters at the White House. It can be fatal if left untreated, although recovery rates are high when the disease is detected and treated promptly, a report in AP said. “Test results showed no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts,” Russian authorities said in a note relayed to AP by WHO. The town’s mayor said the hospital was placed under quarantine.
Senior officials from Russia’s national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, travelled to the region on Friday.
