The USA has raised concerns after a worker a plague research laboratory Siberia died. Some newspapers suspect that she died after coming contact plague bacteria. The 28-year-old worker died after developing severe pneumonia. Local reports say she may have broken a test tube containing plague bacteria. Dozens hospital workers have been quarantined. Officials are monitoring people who were contact with the woman who died. Russia has said the woman's death was "pneumonia of an unknown origin" and not plague. US Secretary State Marco Rubio said there was no "cause alarm". He said officials should "keep an eye it".
Pneumonic plague can be deadly. It attacks the lungs and can cause death 18 24 hours symptoms begin. It is highly contagious, so it can spread quickly. It can move from person person the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The disease can be treated antibiotics. However, antibiotics work best when they are given as soon as symptoms appear. Pneumonic plague is different COVID-19, which is caused a virus and not a bacterium. COVID-19 spreads much more easily around the world than plague. Microbiologist Dr Simon Clarke told the BBC: "Pneumonic plague can spread person to person, and that is why there is the concern this."
