Russia dismisses reports of second plague case as ‘false information’俄罗斯否认有关第二例鼠疫病例的报道，称其为“虚假信息”。
Senior WHO official urges Russia to provide more information on the suspected pneumonic plague cases.
Senior WHO official urges Russia to to provide more information on the suspected pneumonic plague case.
What we know about Russia’s suspected plague case
Russia has dismissed media reports of a second suspected case of pneumonic plague in Siberia, as the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Moscow to formally respond to its inquiry regarding the reports.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that “the vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information”, in response to a question about reports of a second case.
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Peskov said that information on the suspected cases should be derived from official statements by Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.
Russia’s health regulator said there were no infections detected among staff after a plague institute worker died from pneumonia. The origin of the illness remains unknown, prompting international concern that the case could involve the plague.
Russia acknowledged on Sunday that a 28-year-old woman employed at a plague research institute in Siberia’s Irkutsk died after she was diagnosed with a “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”, prompting global concern over a suspected plague case.
The United States, the European Union and the WHO have all called on Russia to be transparent about the situation.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday when asked whether it’s possible the infection was from a bioweapon, “We do not think so.”
“They are saying it is very much under control,” he said, adding “Russia is not saying much either.”
Trump confirmed he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and when asked about what US intelligence agencies are reporting, Trump said the two sides are “in very deep discussions” and that they would likely be able to provide an update “probably tomorrow.”
More information needed
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Russia to clarify “media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause” at the Irkutsk institute.
“We have received information from two media outlets, one of them is Russian,” Tedros said in a briefing on Wednesday, adding, “We asked Russia to respond to that.”
“We cannot ignore any reporting that comes,” the WHO chief said.
WHO Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management Maria Van Kerkhove said the UN agency does not know the “causative agent” behind the death in the first suspected case.
In a briefing, Van Kerkhove said, “We don’t understand how she was infected.”
“We need information in a timely way. We need regular information. We need answers to the follow-up of the questions that we have asked,” she added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described the risk to the United States from the suspected pneumonic plague case as “extremely low”.
CDC Director Erica Schwartz said on Wednesday that the US agency is working with the departments of Homeland Security, State, Defense and other agencies to monitor people travelling from the area.
The CDC has a health station at New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport that can screen travellers coming from the Siberian region, she added.
About 200 people per year travel from the Siberian region to the United States, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told the Reuters news agency.
Direct flights between Russia and the US have been suspended since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022.
“What we’re doing from a whole of government standpoint is we’re making sure that we understand exactly what that threat is,” Schwartz said at the Wall Street Journal’s The Future of Health event in Washington, DC.
“At this time, there is no indication of a broader threat to the United States, but CDC and our interagency partners are prepared and will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the CDC said in a separate statement.
世界卫生组织高级官员敦促俄罗斯提供更多关于疑似肺鼠疫病例的信息。
我们对俄罗斯疑似鼠疫病例的了解
俄罗斯驳斥了有关西伯利亚出现第二例疑似肺鼠疫病例的媒体报道，与此同时，世界卫生组织（世卫组织）敦促莫斯科正式回应其就这些报道提出的质询。
克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫周三告诉记者，“媒体报道的有关此情况的大部分都是虚假信息”，这是他在回答有关第二例病例报道的问题时做出的回应。
俄罗斯实验室人员死亡后爆发鼠疫隔离：我们应该担心吗？（列表 1/3）
列表 2/3：俄罗斯否认在实验室工作人员死亡后采取防疫措施
美国疾控中心表示，他们“已了解并密切监测”俄罗斯鼠疫病例（共3例，此为第3例）。
佩斯科夫表示，有关疑似病例的信息应来自俄罗斯联邦消费者权益保护和福利监督局的官方声明。
俄罗斯卫生监管机构表示，一名鼠疫研究所工作人员死于肺炎后，未在其他工作人员中发现感染病例。该疾病的源头仍然不明，引发国际社会担忧，认为该病例可能与鼠疫有关。
俄罗斯周日承认，一名在西伯利亚伊尔库茨克一家鼠疫研究所工作的 28 岁女子在被诊断出患有“病因不明的肺炎”后死亡，这引发了全球对疑似鼠疫病例的关注。
美国、欧盟和世界卫生组织都呼吁俄罗斯就此事保持透明。
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周三告诉记者，当被问及此次感染是否可能来自生物武器时，他回答说：“我们不这么认为。”
“他们说情况完全在控制之中，”他说道，“俄罗斯方面也没有多说什么。”
特朗普证实他已与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京通话，当被问及美国情报机构的报告时，特朗普表示双方正在“进行非常深入的讨论”，他们可能“大概明天”就能提供最新消息。
需要更多信息
世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞敦促俄罗斯澄清有关伊尔库茨克研究所第二名员工患有不明原因肺炎的媒体报道。
“我们从两家媒体获得了相关信息，其中一家是俄罗斯媒体，”谭德塞在周三的简报会上说，“我们已要求俄罗斯对此作出回应。”
“我们不能忽视任何报告，”世卫组织总干事说。
世界卫生组织流行病和大流行病管理主任玛丽亚·范·科霍夫表示，该联合国机构尚不清楚首例疑似病例死亡背后的“致病因素”。
范科霍夫在简报会上说：“我们不明白她是如何被感染的。”
她补充说：“我们需要及时获取信息。我们需要定期获取信息。我们需要对我们提出的问题得到后续答复。”
美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 将疑似肺鼠疫病例对美国的风险描述为“极低”。
美国疾病控制与预防中心主任埃里卡·施瓦茨周三表示，该机构正在与国土安全部、国务院、国防部和其他机构合作，监控来自该地区的人员。
她补充说，美国疾病控制与预防中心在纽约市约翰·肯尼迪国际机场设有一个健康站，可以对来自西伯利亚地区的旅客进行筛查。
美国卫生与公众服务部发言人告诉路透社，每年约有 200 人从西伯利亚地区前往美国。
自 2022 年乌克兰战争爆发以来，俄罗斯和美国之间的直航航班一直处于暂停状态。
施瓦茨在华盛顿特区举行的《华尔街日报》“健康未来”活动上表示：“从整个政府的角度来看，我们正在确保我们确切地了解这种威胁是什么。”
美国疾病控制与预防中心在另一份声明中表示：“目前没有迹象表明美国面临更广泛的威胁，但疾控中心及其跨部门合作伙伴已做好准备，并将继续密切关注事态发展。”