Lithuania says plague risk unchanged after death reported in Russia
Following reports of a woman's death from pneumonic plague in Russia, Lithuanian health authorities said there is no increased risk to residents, though the situation is being monitored.
Lithuania's National Public Health Centre (NKVC) said on Tuesday that there is currently no data suggesting an increased plague infection risk for Lithuanian residents following a death reported in Russia. The agency noted there is also no information about secondary infections or sustained human-to-human transmission, meaning residents do not need to take extra precautions at this stage.
NKVC said authorities continue to monitor developments. Should a genuine threat emerge from the potential spread of an infectious disease, countries stand ready to coordinate their response at the EU level under mechanisms set out by the European Health Union framework.
The case in Russia
Reports indicate a 28-year-old woman who worked at a plague research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region, in Siberia, died after possibly being infected when a test tube broke. Russian media have also reported a possible laboratory incident, along with the quarantine of roughly 200 people believed to have had contact with the woman.
Situation in Europe and Lithuania
According to NKVC data, no plague cases have been recorded in Europe for more than 50 years. Other, animal-transmitted forms of the disease still appear in parts of the Americas, Africa and Asia. Lithuania itself has not recorded a plague case in over 200 years.
