Islamabad (GNP): Pakistan’s health ministry has assessed the risk of plague reaching the country as “very low” following a suspected case in Siberia, Russia, and has alerted border health services at all points of entry as a precaution.
The ministry said Border Health Services are on alert nationwide, and that the National Institute of Health (NIH) has the capacity to diagnose plague cases. The director general of health added that the ministry and the NIH are closely monitoring developments.
Ministry officials also said the World Health Organisation (WHO) was reportedly not fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the suspected case.
The concern stems from 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, died after which Russian authorities took precautionary measures and quarantined around 200 people who had been in contact with her.
The situation in Russia has since eased. Authorities say 90 per cent of those quarantined have 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.
The cause of her death, however, remains unconfirmed. A regional governor initially said she “may” have contracted plague, but the regulator said she died from an unidentified type of pneumonia and that tests found no relevant pathogens among her contacts.
That distinction matters because of how plague spreads. The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which circulates mainly among small mammals and fleas. It can pass to humans through flea bites, inhalation of infectious respiratory particles and, less commonly, ingestion of infectious material. It is treatable with antibiotics if diagnosed promptly.
That treatability marks a sharp change from the past. Plague has caused some of the deadliest epidemics in history, most notably the Black Death, which swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353. The WHO estimates it killed more than 50 million people in Europe alone.
A third major pandemic began in China’s Yunnan province in the mid-19th century and spread along maritime trade routes. It reached Hong Kong in 1894 and Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1896, and is estimated to have caused at least 15 million deaths by around 1960, with India suffering the greatest toll.
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Control improved once scientists understood the disease. French-Swiss physician Alexandre Yersin identified the plague bacterium in 1894, and later research established the role of infected fleas and rodents. Better sanitation, rodent control, quarantine and surveillance helped contain outbreaks, and streptomycin was introduced for plague in 1947.
Plague has not been eradicated, however, and still occurs in parts of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The WHO says it remains a public health concern where it circulates naturally among animals and fleas, and that rapid detection and contact tracing can stop outbreaks from spreading.
The health ministry said Border Health Services have been alerted at all points of entry and the NIH is able to diagnose plague.
