Russia’s health watchdog said Tuesday it had found no plague among contacts of a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute who died after severe pneumonia, while the cause of her illness remains disputed.
Russia’s consumer-health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been identified among people who had contact with a laboratory worker who died after working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. The Independent reported that the agency also said no infectious illnesses had been recorded among institute employees over the previous 10 days.
The worker, named in media reports as Darya Shipilova, was hospitalised in Shelekhov near Irkutsk with severe pneumonia and died last week. Some accounts said she was admitted on 29 September and placed on a ventilator. Official and media versions of how she became ill have not matched.
Rospotrebnadzor has described the illness as pneumonia of unknown aetiology. It has said expanded testing did not find microorganisms linked to her work and that an expert commission found no pathogen accident at the institute. Other reports, including a later-amended comment from Buryatia’s regional head Alexei Tsydenov, raised the possibility of plague. Separate reporting said she may have broken a test tube; Russian authorities have not confirmed that account.
The World Health Organization has said contacts of the worker were traced. Media reports put the number of people under medical observation in the hundreds. The United States and European officials have said they are watching the case. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted limited travel between the United States and Russia while commenting on the reports.
No independent laboratory result published on Tuesday identified the pathogen that killed Shipilova. Health agencies have not announced a confirmed community outbreak.
People Sentiments Negative
- Regional official Alexei Tsydenov initially wrote that a woman in Irkutsk had died, maybe of the plague, before the wording was made more cautious.
- Rospotrebnadzor said testing had not linked her illness to pathogens used in her work.
- European outlets reported the EU was monitoring the case closely.