What We Know—and Don’t Know—About the Death of a Plague Researcher in Russia

Look, you probably aren't going to get the plague,

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And spoiler alert, it's not a lot at this stage.

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The exact details still remain unconfirmed,

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a young woman died from severe pneumonia in Russia.

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She was reportedly a lab technician

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at a plague research institute in Siberia.

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Initial reports from local Russian media

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from a type of plague called mnemonic plague

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and said Russian health authorities reported

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that no cases of plague had been registered in that region.

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So, what's going on here, and should we be concerned?

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Firstly, the situation is complicated

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by the fact that virtually no independent media outlets

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As one immunologist I spoke to said,

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We don't know anything about anything right now.

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said,

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There's no indication of a broader threat

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for causing millions of deaths in Europe

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come down with plague every year in the US.

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It's caused by a bacteria and mainly spreads to humans

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through the bite of an infected flea.

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which occurs when a person inhales the bacteria

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that can be passed from person to person,

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but the last time that happened in the US was in 1924.

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is that it is curable with…

Original source: https://www.wired.com/