CONNECT WITH US
Tech

Tech

You Probably Aren’t Going to Get the Plague

Wired logo

Published on

Add as a preferred source on Google
You Probably Aren’t Going to Get the Plague

A mysterious death of a woman in Russia following a lab accident has stoked fears about plague spreading. But the odds of that actually happening remain very low, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying on X Tuesday afternoon that the circumstances of the case remain unconfirmed and that there is “no indication of a broader threat to the United States” at this time.

“We are working across the US government to assess developments as additional information becomes available,” the agency said. “CDC and our interagency partners are prepared and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Last week, a young researcher died from severe pneumonia of “unknown” origin after reportedly breaking a test tube at her workplace, the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia. The hospital that treated her before her death was placed under quarantine, and her coworkers at the lab were isolated, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the group has been in touch with Russian authorities. Based on currently available information, WHO says the ​public health risk to the general population is very low.

“I think that’s the correct assessment,” says Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We don’t know anything about anything right now.”

Russian authorities have said contact tracing hasn’t yielded any signs of dangerous pathogens spreading, according to the Associated Press . Infamous for causing millions of deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages, plague is rare today.


Source link

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We TheMorningPulse.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It's possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.