WHO Says Russia Confirms Research Lab Worker’s Death, No Plague Cases Registered

The International News

Lab workers testing samples.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that Russia’s state health regulator had confirmed the death of a laboratory worker at a plague research facility in Siberia, adding that no cases of plague had been registered.

The laboratory worker fell ill and died under undisclosed circumstances on 2 October, prompting authorities to quarantine around 200 people and sparking public health concerns on social media.

Plague is endemic to parts of Siberia, where the bacterium that causes the disease, *Yersinia pestis*, is found among small wild mammals and their fleas. The region is also home to evidence of one of the earliest known prehistoric human outbreaks. Plague infections among Russians are rare, however, while cases continue to occur every year in other parts of the world, particularly Africa.



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