The reports have caused concern, even as the World Health Organization says "the public health risk to the general population appears to be low," based on the current information. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, echoed that belief on "CBS Mornings" on Tuesday. "The American public does not need to be worried," she said.
Still, an official cause of death has not been made public and a lack of transparency from Russia has led some experts to question if the lab worker had the plague. "The response doesn't fit plague. It's not congruent with plague," Dr.
Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told CBS News. "Plague is something, in the 21st century, that's treatable with antibiotics." Russian media has reported that a female researcher, identified as Darya Shipilova, 28, died after being exposed to the plague in a lab accident at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. Initial reports said that Shipilova broke a test tube containing the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis in late September, came down with severe pneumonia and died of her illness.
The World Health Organization said Shipilova died of severe pneumonia overnight into Oct. 2. Russian officials have since cast doubt on those reports. Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said there was no accident and that Shipilova had died of "pneumonia of unknown origin." The WHO said it was told by Russia on Oct. 6 that no plague was detected.
The global health agency said it asked Russian authorities to provide information about which pathogen caused Shipilova's illness. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday called on Russia to be more transparent, and said the nation should "share more information with the world." The WHO said it is following the situation closely and requesting further information from Russian authorities. Plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria.
There are three main types of plague: bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic. Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague. Infected people may have painfully swollen lymph nodes known as buboes, along with fever and chills, a severe headache, body aches and exhaustion.
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