Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital in Siberia and put scores of people under medical observation after a researcher at a plague research institute died of pneumonia, prompting unconfirmed speculation that she contracted pneumonic plague, officials and media reports said.
The woman, identified as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. She was hospitalised outside Irkutsk on Sept. 29 and died last Friday at a regional hospital in the town of Shelekhov, according to reports.
Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotebnadzor, has described the illness as pneumonia of unknown origin and has played down any link to her work. Officials have not confirmed a plague infection and say the epidemiological situation is stable. If plague were confirmed, it would be Russia’s first case in about a decade, according to local media.
The hospital in Shelekhov has halted admissions and discharges, and other hospitals in the region have also been affected, according to local reports. The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, travelled to Irkutsk for an emergency meeting, and a nearby aluminium plant ordered staff to wear masks as a precaution. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev referred to a suspected “particularly dangerous infection.”
RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities service, citing sources, reported that more than 60 institute employees had been isolated. Russian authorities have not publicly confirmed that figure. Contact tracing has identified no new cases among institute staff, according to reports.
Gennady Onishchenko, a former head of Rospotrebnadzor, said the case was most likely not plague and that even if it were, it would not spread. Siberian virologist Alexander Chepurnov told CNN that staff protocols require immediate reporting, decontamination, medical assessment and isolation after any suspected exposure.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Washington was closely monitoring the situation, adding that he did not consider it a cause for alarm. He said information released by Russia appeared to indicate a laboratory worker had been infected and raised the possibility of internal spread.
A State Department spokesperson said many details remained unconfirmed and urged Russia to share accurate information quickly and openly. The department noted that plague can be treated with widely available antibiotics, particularly when therapy starts early.
The World Health Organization has assessed the public health risk as low. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have stepped up health checks at their borders, according to reports.
RFE/RL reported there was no public evidence that the Irkutsk facility was developing plague as a weapon or that the death was tied to an offensive biological weapons programme.
Pneumonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is a severe form of the disease that can pass between people through respiratory droplets during close contact.
