Disease control chief allays plague concern in Russia

The Department of Disease Control (DDC) says there is no evidence of a plague outbreak in Russia and considers the risk of transmission to Thailand to be low.

Dr Montien Kanasawat, the DDC director-general, said officials were aware of reports that a 28-year-old woman who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Irkutsk had died of severe lung inflammation on Sept 29.

At least 197 people had close contact with the woman, but none had fallen ill, Dr Montien said.

He added that laboratory tests had not confirmed Yersinia pestis—the bacterium that causes plague—as the cause of her death. Nor was there evidence of human-to-human transmission.

“The risk of the disease reaching Thailand is low because the incident is confined to a local area in Russia, and there have been no reports of an outbreak in the community. The World Health Organization (WHO) has not issued any warning or travel advisory,” Dr Montien said.

He said plague is classified as a severe communicable disease, but effective control measures are available.

Dr Direk Khampaen, the DDC deputy director-general, said special measures for international travel and flights were not necessary at this time.

On Tuesday, Russian authorities denied that special restrictions had been introduced over reports that a laboratory technician died of plague.