Former CDC director: Suspected pneumonic plague death in Russia ‘NOT CAUSE FOR ALARM’

>> LIKE ANYTHING ELSLSE, SOMETHG. LIKE THAT GETS OUT, IT CAN. QUICKLY SPREAD. WE ARE WATCHING AND MONITORING. IT CLOSELY. I DON'T THINK IT'S CAUSE FOR. ALARM BUT IT IS CAUSE FOR FOCUS. >> ONE SHOULD MAINLY BE GUIDED. BY THE OFFICIAL STATEMENTS OF. THE PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY NOT. LISTENING TO VARIOUS RUMORS, SPECULATIONS AND SO ON. THE REAL QUESTION WOULULD BE HAS. THIS MUTATED? IS SOMEBODY PLAYING WITH IT IN A. SNRAB THEY'RE SAYING NO.

I'M HOPING THAT'S TRUE. THAT'S THE KEY. >> Bret: THERE IS A A LOT OF. QUESTIONS TO THIS TOP STORY. TONIGHT ABOUT THIS POTENTIAL. PLAGUE OUTBREAK IF YOU WANT TO. CALL IT THAT IN RUSSIA. THE STATE DEPARTMENT SENIOR. OFFICIAL TO FOX MANY DETAILS. HAVE NOT BEEN CONFIRMED BUT WE. ENCOURAGE RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES TO. SHARE INFORMATION QUICKLY AND. OPENLY. PNEUMONIA PLAGUE SPREAD THROUGH. RESPIRATORY PARTICLES AND.

DROPLETS. TREATMENT IS IF WITHIN 24 HOURS. OF ONSET. ISSUES WE TALKED ABOUT IN TOP. STORY. JOINING US TONIGHT, DAN HOFFMAN, FORMER CIA MOSCOW CHIEF OF. STATION AND A FOX NEWS. CONTRIBUTOR AND VIROLOGIST, DR. ROBERT REDFIELD CENTERS FOR. THE DISEASE CONTROL AND. PREVENTION 2018 TO 202021. GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU BOTH FOR. BEING HERE PLAGUE AND CIRCUMSTAS.

RIGHT NOW. >> I AGREE WITH SECRETARY RUBIO. THAT I DON'T THINK THERE IS. CAUSE FOR ALARM AT THIS POINT. WE HAVE A SINGLE CASE. THE RUSSIANS HAVE RESPONDED, AS. I UNDERSTAND, AND DAN CAN TELL. US MORE, PROBABLY, BECAUSE I. THINK THE INTELLIGENCE ON THIS. IS IMPORTANT, BUT THEY ARE. PRETTY AGGRESSIVE CASE FINDING. EFFORTS N. AS I UNDERSTAND FOUR. DIFFERENT HOSPITALS OVER 200.

INDIVIDUALS THEY HAVE ISOLATED. AND THEY HAVEN'T FOUND A SECOND. CASE. NORMALLY WE WOULD EXPECT TO SEE. A CASE WITHIN, SAY, FOUR TO. SEVEN DAYS OF THE INDEX CASE, AND SO WE ARE THROUGH THAT. SO, I THINK, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT, AND I THINK. THE TWO AREAS THAT I WOULD LIKE. TO HIGHLIGHT IS ONE, THE. SIGNIFICANCE IS THE IMPORTANCE. OF LABORATORY BIOSAFETY, WHICH I. THINK WE'RE NOT VERY GOOD AT, STILL, UNFORTUNATELY. I THINK THAT LED TO THE COVID. PANDEMIC. THE SECOND IS THE HIGH RISK OF.

GAIN OF FUNCTION RESEARCH. NO LONGER ACCEPT TO BELIEVE. STANDARD BIOTICS. I DON'T KNOW THAT EITHER. IN TERMS OF US, THE RISK IS. EXTREMELY LOW, BUT IT SHOULD. REMIND US ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE. OF BIOSAFETY AND SHOULD REMIND. US ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF NOT. GETTING INTO THIS GAIN OF. FUNCTION RESEARCH:

>> WE WERE TOLD LAB TECHNICIAN, SOMETHING THAT BROKE, SHE. CONTRACTED THIS AND DIED. THE CO-FOUNDER OF BIORADAR, DAN, WORRIES ABOUT THE RUSSIAN. SITUATION. HE WRITES: THERE ARE REPORTS OF. E. IF B INVOLVEMENT IN THE CURRENT. RESPONSE. SECURITY SERVICES ACCOMPANYING. AMBULANCES TRANSPORTING EXPOSED. CONTEXT. IF ACCURATE, THAT'S NOT THE. ROUTINE NATURAL OUTBREAK. EVEN A NORMAL LAB ACCIDENT. WE HAVE TO ASSUME -- WE MAY NOT.

KNOW THE FULL TRUTH AND HAVE TO. ACT TO BUILD UP OUR BIODEFENSE. ACCORDINGLY. TO DR. REDFIELD'S POINT, WE KNOW. THAT THE RUSSIANS HAVE WORKED. WITH ANTHRAX. WE HAVE HAD THEIR BIOWEAPONS. THAT THEY WORK ON. WHAT'S YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS. OVERALL? COUPLE CAUTIONARY KNOWS FIRST. VLADIMIR PUTIN WEAPONIZE A. BANNED CHEMICAL NERVE AGENT TO. TRY TO KILL NAVALNY AND MILITARY.

INTELLIGENCE DEFECTOR SERGEI. RIGHT NOW WE ARE RELYING ON WHAT. THE RUSSIANS HAVE TOLD US THAT. ONLY ONE LAB RESEARCHER, A. 28-YEAR-OLD WAS KILLED. THERE'S A LOT MORE DETAILS OUT. THERE. IT WILL BE OVER TO OUR. INTELLIGENCE SERVICES. BOTH IN THE UNITED STATES AND. OUR ALLIES IN THE E FINLAND AND. BALTIC STATES TO COLLECT ON. INTELLIGENCE ON WHAT IS REALLY. HAPPENING. NOW WE KNOW THAT THE GOVERNOR. HAS HELD A MEETING. WE KNOW THAT THE HEAD OF. RUSSIA'S CONSUMER PROTECTION.

AGENCY ANNA HAS VISITED. THOSE ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR US. TO COLLECT. I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT WE'RE USING. OUR OVERHEAD RECONNAISSANCE, SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY, HUMAN. SOURCES AND WHATEVER ELSE OUR. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY CAN. COLLECT SO THAT WE WILL BE AS. INFORMED AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THE. THREAT THIS POSES INSIDE RUSSIA. AND BEYOND. THE LAST THING I WOULD SAY IS. THAT WITH THE SPECTER OF. CHERNOBYL IN OUR MINDS, THIS CAN. IMPACT VLADIMIR PUTIN'S STANDING. IN THE KREMLIN.

HE IS ALREADY FACING A LOSING. WAR IN UKRAINE, OVER A MILLION. CASUALTIES, A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF. BLOOD AND TREASURE THAT HE. SPILLED, AN ECONOMY IN FREE FALL. AND BENDING THE KNEE TO CHINA, IRAN, AND NORTH KOREA FOR. ASSISTANCE. I'M NOT SAYING THAT THIS IS. NECESSARILY GOING TO BE THE. TIPPING POINT, BUT IT COULD. POTENTIALLY BE ANOTHER GREAT. CHALLENGE FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN TO. HAVE TO DEAL WITH. >> Bret: DR. REDFIELD YOU. MENTIONED COVID-19. IT'S INTERESTING THE LESSONS. LEARNED THAT WE AS A COUNTRY FOR. HEALTH POLICY, FOR PROTECTION OF.

OUR OWN COUNTRY LEARNED FROM. THAT, YOU LISTEN TO SECRETARY. RUBIO, AND THEY ARE MONITORING. IT, BUT, FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SAY. SHUT DOWN ALL THE PLANES FROM. RUSSIA, LET'S SHUT THIS DOWN. BEFORE IT BECOMES AN ISSUE THAT. WE CAN'T CONTROL, WHAT DO YOU. SAY TO THEM? >> WELL, IF COVID WAS HIGHLY. TRANSMISSIBLE HUMAN-TO-HUMAN. CONTRARY TO THE HA CHINESE. ORIGINALLY TOLD US WHEN I. EVALUATED THE DIAMOND PRINCESS. WE DECIDED TO TEST EVERYBODY ON. THE SHIP. THE JAPANESE WANTED OUR HELP AND. WE FOUND OUT 50 PEOPLE OF THE.

SHIP WERE A SYMPTOM IF I CAN. WE KNOW THE CHINESE MISLED US. ABOUT NO HUMAN-TO-HUMAN AND NO. SYMPTOMATIC INFECTION. THE LAST CASE WE HAVE HAD OF. HUMAN TRANSITION OF. HUMAN-TOTO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION OF. PLAGUE WAS IN 1924. THIS IS NOT AN EASY PATHOGEN TO. TRANSMIT. THAT'S WHY THIS CASE MAKES ME. THINK THAT THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT. IN A LABORATORY THAT PROBABLY.

WAS RELATED TO THEIR BIODEFENSE. RESEARCH. THIS WAS NOT JUST SOME CASUAL. RESEARCH THAT WAS BEING DONE ON. THE PLAGUE. YOU KNOW, HUMAN ACQUISITION OF. THIS IS UNUSUAL. USUALLY WE GET IT FROM FLEAS. WE CAN GET IT FROM CONTACT WITH. INFECTED RODENTS. IN THE UNITED STATES WE HAVE. ABOUT SEVEN CASES PER YEAR, LARGELY IN THE WEST. LARGELY TO, YOU KNOW, GROUNDHOGS.

AND SO THIS IS A RARE EVENT. I DON'T THINK IT POSES A RISK TO. US RIGHT NOW OTHER THAN THE RISK. THAT WE MAY NOT HAVE QUALITY. BIOSAFETY IN A LOT OF THESE. SPECIAL PATHOGEN LABS THAT THE. RUSSIANS ARE DOING, WHICH POSES. A RISK AND WE OBVIOUSLY MAY NOT. HAVE CONTROL OVER THE GAIN OF. FUNCTION RESEARCH THEY ARE. DOING. WHEN I LOOKED AT THIS BEFORE. MANY YEARS AGO, WE WERE LOOKING. AT BOTH PLAGUE AND ANTHRAX. ONE OF THE THINGS WE FOUND WERE. THE ORGANISMS WERE FREQUENTLY.

NOT SENSITIVE TO THE ANTIBIOTICS. THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN. SENSITIVE TO, SUGGESTING THAT. THEY WERE BEING MANIPULATED SO. THAT THE ANTIBIOTICS THAT MYSELF. AS AN ID DOCTOR WOULD USE SAW. PATIENT WITH PLAGUE OR ANTHRAX. THEY WOULDN'T WORK. SO I HAVE A HIGH DEGREE OF. SKEPTICISM THAT WE ARE GETTING. THE INFORMATION WE NEED I SAID. THIS ABOUT COVID AND SAY THIS. ABOUT THIS INFORMATION. THE REAL INFORMATION WE NEED IS. FROM DAN AND THE INTELLIGENCE. COMMUNITY TO TELL US WHAT IS. REALLY GOING ON. >> Bret: WE APPRECIATE YOU B.