ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health ministry has assessed the risk of plague spreading to the country as “very low” following a suspected case in Siberia, Russia, while alerting border health services at all points of entry as a precaution.
According to the ministry officials, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was also reportedly not fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the suspected case.
The ministry said Border Health Services had been alerted at all points of entry, while the National Institute of Health (NIH) had the capacity to diagnose plague cases.
The director general of health said the ministry and the NIH were closely monitoring the situation and were fully aware of the developments.
The concerns follow the death of a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East on October 2, prompting Russian authorities to take precautionary measures.
Authorities initially quarantined around 200 people who had come into contact with the woman, identified as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova.
Russian authorities have since reported that 90 per cent of those quarantined had been released after nearly 5,000 laboratory tests, with no plague cases detected among her contacts.
Russia’s health regulator said on Wednesday that there was no risk of an epidemic and that precautionary measures were being gradually wound down.
However, there has been no confirmation that Shipilova died of plague. A regional governor initially said she “may” have contracted the disease.
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Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said she had died from an unidentified type of pneumonia and that tests had found no relevant pathogens among her contacts.
Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and primarily circulates among small mammals and fleas.
It can spread to humans through bites from infected fleas, inhalation of infectious respiratory particles and, less commonly, ingestion of infectious material. The disease is treatable with antibiotics if diagnosed promptly.
Plague: From Black Death to Modern Control
Plague has caused some of the deadliest epidemics in human history, killing tens of millions of people over the centuries. The most notorious outbreak was the Black Death of the 14th century, which swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the disease killed more than 50 million people in Europe alone. The plague also devastated populations across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
A third major plague pandemic began in China’s Yunnan province in the mid-19th century and spread internationally through maritime trade routes.
After reaching Hong Kong in 1894, it spread to port cities across the world, including Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1896. The pandemic is estimated to have caused at least 15 million deaths worldwide by around 1960, with India suffering the greatest toll.
Plague began to come under better control in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as scientists identified the bacterium responsible for the disease and established how it spread.
French-Swiss physician Alexandre Yersin identified the plague bacterium in 1894, while subsequent research established the role of infected fleas and rodents in transmission.
Improved sanitation, rodent control, quarantine measures and public health surveillance helped contain outbreaks. Antibiotics later transformed treatment, with streptomycin introduced for plague in 1947.
Plague has not been eradicated, however, and continues to occur in parts of Africa, Asia and the Americas. Today, it is generally treatable with antibiotics when diagnosed early, and rapid detection, contact tracing and appropriate public health measures can help prevent outbreaks from spreading.
According to the WHO, the disease remains a public health concern in areas where it circulates naturally among animals and fleas.
