WHO's initial risk assessment, based on available information, estimates the risk as moderate to low in Irkutsk, low in the Russian Federation as a whole and very low in the WHO European Region, the UN agency's spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, said in Geneva.
A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region died last week of “pneumonia of unknown origin,” quickly raising concerns about pneumonic plague. According to Russian independent media, several hospitals were quarantined and people who had been in contact with the woman were isolated.
“No pathogens causing dangerous infectious diseases were detected in any of the contacts, according to the test results,” Lindmeier now says.
