A laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died after what officials called pneumonia of unknown cause, while a regional leader said the death was possibly plague. Hospitals imposed quarantines.
Hospitals in the Irkutsk region imposed quarantines after a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Shelekhov died, CNN and Meduza reported. Russia's public-health agency, Rospotrebnadzor, said the employee had pneumonia of unknown cause and that the sanitary situation in Irkutsk and Shelekhov was stable.
Meduza, citing regional reporting, identified the worker as Darya Shipilova, 28, a laboratory technician who was hospitalized on 29 September and died two days later. Alexei Tsydenov, head of neighboring Buryatia, said she died possibly from plague and that there was no plague outbreak in Buryatia, CNN reported.
Local accounts differ on how she became ill. Meduza said one version was pneumonic plague after a trip to Thailand and another was a broken test tube containing plague bacteria. CNN said state media TASS described a suspected dangerous infection released in a laboratory accident. Those accounts were not confirmed by Rospotrebnadzor in the reports reviewed.
Independent outlet People of Baikal reported nearly 200 people were placed under observation and that City Clinical Hospitals No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10 and a children's hospital were closed for three-week quarantines, Meduza and CNN reported. Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev urged calm after a regional anti-epidemic meeting, CNN said.
Officials have not published a final laboratory confirmation in the sources used here. The public discrepancy between the pneumonia statement and plague reports remains unresolved.