The Danger of Plague Spread Poses Immediate Risk to Iran: Armenian Health Ministry

The Ministry of Health has issued a warning regarding the risk of infectious disease spread in war zones. The message is presented below:

“The large-scale military operations carried out by Azerbaijan along the entire line of contact with the Republic of Artsakh have targeted civilian settlements and infrastructure, resulting in numerous casualties and destruction. This poses multiple consequences, including the risk of outbreaks and epidemics of various infectious diseases, including particularly dangerous ones.

Damage to water supply and drainage systems creates an unfavorable sanitary-hygienic situation and makes it impossible to carry out proper cleaning and disinfection activities, thus creating favorable conditions for the emergence and spread of intestinal infectious diseases (cholera, hepatitis A, dysentery, etc.).

The war zone passes through the areas of the Zangezur-Karabakh and Araks basin plague foci, where both the pathogens and vectors of the disease are present. The retrieval of bodies, combined with the absence of conditions for burial or exchange, facilitates an environment where unattended corpses can become a breeding ground for insects and wild animals that transmit infectious diseases; infectious agents, including particularly dangerous diseases, can remain viable in the environment for extended periods, creating all the prerequisites for outbreaks and epidemics.

Military operations can promote the activity of foci and increase the risk of rodent-borne infectious diseases (plague, tularemia, leptospirosis). The high mortality and infectivity of the plague make it a highly favorable agent for causing mass infections.

Environmental pollution and the proliferation of infectious disease-carrying rodents pose a serious epidemic threat not only to the immediate areas of military operations but also to countries directly neighboring the conflicting sides, particularly the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is due to the close proximity between the countries, geographical commonalities, and the presence of the Araks river, which is regarded as a risk zone for the transmission of infection through waterways to nearby settlements.

In case of outbreaks or epidemics being recorded during military operations and the post-war period, the Azerbaijani side bears full responsibility, as they have continuously violated the terms of the humanitarian ceasefire signed on October 10 for the exchange of bodies.”