Plague is highly treatable if caught early, newly appointed CDC Director Erica Schwartz said, adding that the US is monitoring travelers arriving from Siberia following the reported death of a worker in Russia.Speaking at the WSJ’s Future of Health event, Schwartz said the risk to the US from an unconfirmed case of pneumonic plague in Siberia was extremely low. She noted that the reported illness involved Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.“It’s a bacterial disease, a very serious bacterial disease. The one good thing is that it’s a treatable, highly treatable bacterial disease with common antibiotics that most physicians within the United States can utilize,” Schwartz said.“This is a disease that is spread person to person through respiratory droplets, but as I said, if we can identify cases early, they’re absolutely treatable,” she added.Read More: Russia Plague Scare: Could It Trigger A New Pandemic? Experts ExplainSchwartz said the CDC was prepared to monitor and screen travelers, particularly those arriving from Russia. She also discussed steps public health officials are taking to ensure Americans are protected from a potential threat linked to the reported case in Russia.“There are about 200 flights that come into the United States from Siberia, that region. We are working with Department of Homeland Security, working (with) Department of State, Department of War, and other agencies within the government to make sure that we know exactly if anyone from that area comes into the United States,” Schwartz said.She said flights from Siberia, where the plague-linked Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute is located, typically arrive at JFK International Airport.“We have a port health station set up in JFK so that we can do appropriate surveillance and screening if anyone from that area comes into the United States. So we’re very well positioned to make sure that we are protected from a potential threat like that,” Schwartz said.An HHS spokesman said about 200 individuals per year from the Siberian region travel to the United States. Direct flights between Russia and the United States have been suspended since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022.Also Read: Russia Plague Scare: Is Pneumonic Plague Deadlier Than Bubonic & Septicemic Plague? Russia Plague: What We Know So FarRussia has reportedly seen two deaths allegedly linked to pneumonic plague. One was Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. The identity of the other person remains unknown.Shipilova fell ill on September 29, was placed on a ventilator, and died on October 2. Around 200 contacts were reportedly placed under medical observation after she allegedly told doctors that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria.However, Russian authorities maintain that Shipilova died from “unidentified pneumonia”. Authorities said tests of her contacts found no dangerous infectious-disease pathogens, although some reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 or rhinovirus.Russia has also denied reports of a second death linked to plague, calling them “fake news”.In a statement published by Russian news agencies, the regulator denied what it called “fake information circulating on social media regarding a second case of illness”. It said it had completed checks on all contacts of the dead woman, adding that “no health issues related to an infectious disease were detected” and that nearly 5,000 laboratory tests showed no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms, Reuters reported.US President Donald Trump and Senator Rand Paul have publicly criticized Russia’s handling of the situation, with Trump calling it a “big problem for Russia” and Paul accusing Russia of not fully cooperating with international health authorities.