Poland faces no current risk of plague being imported, according to Prof. Aleksandra A. Zasada, head of the Department of Sera and Vaccines Research at Poland's National Institute of Public Health PZH-PIB.
She said plague does not currently occur in Europe, either among humans or animals, which she attributed to Europe's high level of hygiene.
She said plague cases have been practically absent from Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries. Poland last experienced the "Black Death" in the 18th and early 19th centuries, she added.
Zasada said even ports are protected by procedures designed to prevent rodents, the main reservoir of plague, from reaching land after arriving on ships from affected regions.
Referring to reports of an unconfirmed case of pneumonic plague in Russia, she said the risk of the pathogen reaching Poland is currently zero, adding that the disease develops very rapidly and, if untreated, can be fatal within one to three days.
Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is mainly transmitted to humans through bites from fleas that feed on infected rodents, most commonly causing bubonic plague.
All forms of plague can be effectively treated with antibiotics, provided treatment is started quickly, preferably within 24 hours of symptoms appearing.
There is currently no effective plague vaccine. Vaccines developed so far have provided immunity lasting no more than about six months, according to Zasada.
The last officially confirmed human plague infection in Russia was in July 2016. The patient survived after receiving prompt treatment.
The unconfirmed reports from Russia concern the death of a 28-year-old laboratory worker in the Irkutsk region, who reportedly accidentally broke a test tube containing the pathogen that causes pneumonic plague on September 25.
She developed severe pneumonia, was hospitalised four days later and died on October 2.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has assessed, based on available unofficial information about the death in the Russian town of Shelekhov, that the public-health risk to the general population appears low.
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Source: PAP