CDC Monitors 200 Siberia Flights Through JFK as Russia Probes Lab Worker's Death
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 11
CDC Monitors 200 Siberia Flights Through JFK as Russia Probes Lab Worker's Death
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 11
Summary
JFK is the main U.S. screening point for roughly 200 flights from Siberia, CDC Director Erica Schwartz said, as the agency coordinates with Homeland Security, State and other departments to track arrivals.
The monitoring follows the Oct. 2 death of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, an employee at Irkutsk's anti-plague institute, whose unexplained pneumonia has raised fears of an unconfirmed pneumonic plague case.
Russian authorities say about 200 contacts were quarantined and roughly 5,000 tests found no pathogens, but they have not identified the cause of Shipilova's illness or definitively ruled out plague.
WHO has sought more information from Moscow, while the CDC says the threat to Americans is extremely low because pneumonic plague is a bacterial disease that can be treated with common antibiotics if caught early.