WHO says Russia told it ‘no cases of plague’ but isn’t identifying pathogen

Russian authorities told the World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday that “no cases of plague” have been recorded in the Irkutsk Oblast region of Siberia, according to the UN health agency, after reports that a lab worker had died of possible pneumonic plague. However, the WHO says Russian officials have not yet told the agency what the pathogen that killed the lab worker is.“WHO is aware of media reports that a laboratory worker in Irkutsk oblast, in the Russian Federation, died of suspected pneumonic plague, and that nearly 200 of her contacts were under medical observation and being tested,” the WHO said.“On 3 October, WHO asked the Russian authorities under the International Health Regulations (IHR) for any further information they had, so we could assess the risk. The IHR asks countries to respond within 24 hours acknowledging WHO’s request and then provide additional public health information within 48 hours.” Story continues below advertisement The statement continued: “The Russian authorities replied on 6 October and told WHO that the woman’s illness first looked like a typical acute respiratory viral infection, and that no case of plague has been recorded in Irkutsk, eithe...