Trump says US ready to aid Russia with plague outbreak in Siberia

Russian authorities quarantine hospital, monitor 200 contacts after suspected pneumonic plague death in Siberia.

US President Donald Trump has offered support as Russia investigates a suspected case of the plague [File: AFP]

President Donald Trump says the United States is ready to help Russia with a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak .

“We are looking at it very strongly. We just heard about it,” Trump said, adding that he had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about it but is prepared to offer US support.

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“It’s a disease we used to be able to control,” Trump said. “Even with great advancement, the germs have really become relatively stronger than they were, and things that used to work on pneumonia don’t work anymore … anyone that has that kind of problem, we will help.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said based on unofficial information it has received, the “public health risk to the general population appears to be low”.

Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the danger as well. “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it,” Rubio said.

Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital and are tracing the contacts of an employee at a plague research institute in the remote Siberian region of Irkutsk who died of a suspected pneumonic plague infection. Local media identified the employee as 28-year-old laboratory technician Darya Shipilova.

Official details about the incident have been limited, and Russian media reports say authorities in Irkutsk have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation.

On Sunday, Russia’s official TASS news agency reported that the country’s consumer protection agency, Rospotrebnadzor, said an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown aetiology” or origin. The agency also said it had expanded sample testing from the patient and found no microorganisms associated with her work.

On Saturday, the governor of neighbouring Buryatia region said in a post on his Telegram channel that a woman in Irkutsk had “died, maybe of the plague”.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, a US State Department official said: “We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.”

Pneumonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, usually found in small mammals and their fleas. According to the WHO, the plague is highly infectious and can be fatal if not treated early.

The plague ⁠comes in three forms affecting different parts of the body. Pneumonic plague, an infection of the lungs, triggers the patient to cough out infectious airborne droplets.

If identified quickly, antibiotics can treat the disease. Left untreated, it can be fatal in one to six days.

俄罗斯当局隔离医院，监测200名密切接触者，此前西伯利亚出现疑似肺鼠疫死亡病例。

美国总统特朗普表示支持俄罗斯调查一例疑似鼠疫病例。[图片来源：法新社]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示，美国已准备好帮助俄罗斯应对疑似肺鼠疫疫情。

“我们正在非常认真地关注此事。我们刚刚听说此事，”特朗普说，并补充说他还没有就此事与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京交谈，但他准备提供美国的支持。

埃博拉疫情死亡人数超过4000人，刚果民主共和国努力控制疫情（共3条记录，此为第1条）

世界卫生组织警告称，援助物资延迟进入加沙将造成“毁灭性后果”（共3份清单，此为第2份）。

名单中的第三名：一名俄罗斯实验室工作人员在西伯利亚疑似死于鼠疫；美国正在监测该病例

特朗普说：“这种疾病我们以前是可以控制的。即使科技取得了长足进步，病菌的毒性也比以前强得多，以前对肺炎有效的疗法现在都不管用了……任何有这种问题的人，我们都会提供帮助。”

世界卫生组织（世卫组织）表示，根据其收到的非官方信息，“对普通人群的公共卫生风险似乎较低”。

周一早些时候，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥也淡化了这种危险。“我认为这没什么好恐慌的，但确实值得关注，需要密切留意，”卢比奥说。

俄罗斯当局已隔离一家医院，并正在追踪一名在西伯利亚偏远地区伊尔库茨克一家鼠疫研究所工作的员工的密切接触者。该员工疑似死于肺鼠疫感染。当地媒体确认死者为28岁的实验室技术员达里娅·希皮洛娃。

官方对该事件的细节报道有限，俄罗斯媒体报道称，伊尔库茨克当局已将近 200 人置于医学观察之下。

俄罗斯官方通讯社塔斯社周日报道称，俄罗斯消费者权益保护和福利监督局（Rospotrebnadzor）表示，西伯利亚和远东地区伊尔库茨克抗鼠疫研究所的一名员工被诊断出患有“病因不明的肺炎”。该机构还表示，已扩大了对该患者的样本检测范围，并未发现与其工作相关的微生物。

周六，邻近的布里亚特共和国州长在他的 Telegram 频道上发帖称，伊尔库茨克一名妇女“死亡，可能是死于瘟疫”。

美国国务院一位官员在接受半岛电视台采访时表示：“我们鼓励俄罗斯当局迅速、公开地分享准确信息。”

肺鼠疫是由鼠疫耶尔森菌引起的，这种细菌通常存在于小型哺乳动物及其跳蚤体内。据世界卫生组织称，鼠疫传染性极强，如不及时治疗可能致命。

鼠疫有三种形式，分别影响身体的不同部位。肺鼠疫是一种肺部感染，会导致患者咳出带有传染性的飞沫。

如果及早发现，抗生素可以治疗这种疾病。如果不治疗，可能在一到六天内致命。