ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faces a very low risk of plague transmission following reports of a suspected case in Siberia, a federal health ministry official has said, adding that precautionary measures have been taken to monitor the situation.
Speaking to the media, the official said the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health (NIH) were closely monitoring developments. The official also noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) was not fully informed about the reported case.
The ministry said Border Health Services had been alerted at all entry points across the country to strengthen vigilance against any potential health threat.
It added that the NIH had the necessary laboratory facilities to diagnose plague. The director general of health also confirmed that the ministry and the institute were aware of the situation.
The precautionary measures follow the death of a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East on October 2. The woman, identified as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, had reportedly prompted health authorities to initiate contact-tracing and quarantine measures.
Russian authorities initially quarantined approximately 200 people who had been in contact with her. However, officials later reported that 90 per cent of those quarantined had been released after nearly 5,000 laboratory tests found no evidence of plague among her contacts.
Russia’s health regulator said on Wednesday that there was no threat of an epidemic and that precautionary measures were being gradually eased.
The cause of Shipilova’s death has not been confirmed as plague. Although a regional governor initially suggested that she might have contracted the disease, Russia’s consumer health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, later said she had died from pneumonia of an unidentified type.
The watchdog also reported that tests had found no relevant pathogens among people who had been in contact with her.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which primarily circulates among small mammals and their fleas. Humans can contract the disease through bites from infected fleas, inhalation of infectious respiratory droplets or, in rare cases, exposure to contaminated material.
Health experts say the disease is treatable with antibiotics, particularly when diagnosed and treated promptly.
