Outbreak News has an update on the plague outbreak with Russian officials denying that it was pneumonic plague, but was merely pneumonia of an unknown etiology, or that it was the result of a lab accident (i.e., apparently denying reports that she had become infected after breaking a test tube at work). I found the particularly wording of this statement interesting:
“According to the results of extensive testing, no microorganisms related to her professional activities were detected in the material from the sick institute employee,” TASS clarified.
And then there is this further confusing statement:
In addition to Rospotrebnadzor, epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education said, "It's unlikely to be plague. Although the plague's clinical manifestations aren't very noticeable, the most important thing is that snow has already fallen in Buryatia. The patient returned from Buryatia, where rodents and fleas are the natural foci of plague. We are constantly monitoring all these natural foci, but all the plague carriers are already dormant. In any case, we know this infection well, we know how to treat it, and it definitely won't spread.”
But if it is of an unknown etiology, how can he say that "we know this infection well"?
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