A doctor on BBC Morning Live has urged viewers not to panic over a suspected plague case linked to a researcher's death in Russia, stressing that modern antibiotics make the bacterial illness far less threatening than Covid.
Presenters Helen Skelton and OJ Borg broadcast live from Manchester on October 6. Helen raised the issue on air, saying: "We are seeing headlines about the plague. We see the plague, we think 'medieval'. We think about a lot of things that will cause alarm. How worried do people need to be?"
Doctor's Response to Plague Concerns
Dr Ranj responded: "On the surface it's terrifying isn’t it? You're talking about the plague, it’s a medieval illness that caused those loads of deaths in the past, back in the 14th century. But we are in a very different world."
He added: "If I can put people's minds at rest, the plague is a very different illness from recent global pandemics such as Covid. Because it’s a bacterial illness, we have antibiotics that can work against it. So at this stage, it’s being watched very closely. Let’s see how things go, but I wouldn’t necessarily panic."
Details of the Suspected Case
Helen referenced a BBC article titled "US 'watching closely' after plague researcher dies in Russia." Dr Ranj explained: "This is a story that's come outside of Siberia. A young lady sadly passed away from a pneumonia-related illness. She worked in an anti-plague laboratory. It’s currently of unknown aetiology, but the fear is that it may have been related to the plague. As a consequence, several hundred people have been isolated and are being watched closely."
He noted: "As yet, apparently it's unconfirmed that this was definitely pneumonic plague. but that is the concern - even if it was to be that, we do have antibiotics for things like that."
US Monitoring and Official Statements
In the BBC report, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was keeping a close watch on the situation amid concerns it could lead to a wider spread of pneumonic plague, but emphasised there was no need for alarm.
Announcing the cause of death as "pneumonia of undetermined aetiology", Irkutsk's governor said "no micro-organisms" linked to the woman's work had been found "in her biological samples."
According to unconfirmed reports, she became unwell after either a test tube containing the bacteria broke or she travelled to a rodent-populated area where plague occurs naturally in wild rodents.
Asked for an "update on the suspected plague case in Russia," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "It seems that there was a worker at the lab that was infected and there's concern that that, you know, could have spread, at least internally - you've seen them do quarantine of this and that nature. If something like that gets out, it can quickly spread. So we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and the cause to just keep an eye on it and we're doing that."
