WHO reports thousands of suspected plague cases worldwide annually

Thousands of suspected cases of plague are recorded annually in various countries around the world.

This was stated by Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Director for Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention.

"Thousands of suspected cases of plague are recorded worldwide every year," she said at a briefing at the organization's headquarters in Geneva.

According to Van Kerkhove, between 2019 and 2025, 10 countries informed the organization of nearly 4,000 suspected cases of plague among humans and 423 deaths. She noted that this concerns both the bubonic and pneumonic forms of the disease. The WHO representative emphasized that plague is caused by a bacterium and can be treated with antibiotics.