Has a plague broken out in Russia? Luke O'Neill weighs in

A Russian woman who worked in a plague research facility, died after developing some kind of pneumonia after being infected with something.

A fear is growing that the world is about to be thrown into another pandemic after the death of a Russian woman triggered plague fears.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College in Dublin, Luke O'Neill explained what we know happened and if we need to be worried or not.

"No, we don't," Mr O'Neill bluntly shared before explaining, "Let's start with [that]. Nothing to see here too much, I think, but there's a concern.

"A young woman, lab technician in Irkutsk, got infected. They haven't said what it is yet, by the way, but it's some kind of pneumonia and she died, sadly. Now the suspicion is it is the plague.

"Yersinia pestis is the bacteria that causes this and it's causing a bit of an interest as to what happened there."

When people think plague, often people think of the 4th century Black Plague which killed half the population of Europe.

That plague was transmitted by fleas and is referred to as a bubonic plague, which can be treated with antibiotics nowadays.

One of the main reasons people believe the Russian woman died by being exposed to the plague is because she worked in a plague research institute in Irkutsk in Siberia.

The theories making the rounds include that this isn't bubonic plague but pneumonic plague, which spreads from person to person as opposed to via rats and fleas.

The fear is if it is pneumonic plague, then this could lead to another pandemic.

President Donald Trump has sent in an American expert in to investigate what happened, but they believe this is not a bioweapon.

Main Image: A medical facility processing samples, Pic: Alamy Stock Photo

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