00:00So this suspected pneumonic plague case in Russia has come to people's attention because a laboratory worker who works in
00:10a plague research center in eastern Russia has died from what the Russian authorities say is a mystery respiratory infection.
00:21The chance of this spreading widely in Russia and then extending here to the U.S. will not happen, not
00:28with this type of bacteria, because it's not sprayed easily and we have antibiotics to stop it from spreading.
00:34So in the U.S., no precautions. Don't worry about it. Go on with your normal day. We're at no
00:39risk.
00:41If you were around somebody that had pneumonic plague, you'd wear a mask, a surgical mask, and that would prevent
00:47you from catching it.
00:49Anybody who's been exposed to this bacterial infection needs to quarantine, so self-isolate, and take antibiotics.
01:00With pneumonic plague, it can be spread by coughing. Since the infection's in your lungs, if you cough, you can
01:06spread it to another person.
01:07But that doesn't travel very far, and so you really need to be face-to-face contact with that person
01:13to get pneumonic plague.
01:15People think the plague is gone. It's something that occurred 500 years ago, and it's not.
01:22It's here, you know, it's here amongst us.
01:26If you live in the right parts of the world, I live in the United Kingdom, we don't have it
01:30here.
01:30But occasionally it even crops up in the United States, and that's because it's in wild animals.
01:37And unless you get rid of those wild animals, which of course is not possible, then you're not going to
01:43get rid of the bacteria.
01:46It's just something that is with us.
01:53You're not going to get rid of those wild animals.
01:54You're not going to get rid of the bacteria.
