Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday it had found no plague among contacts of an Irkutsk anti-plague institute worker who died after severe pneumonia, and no work-related pathogen in her body.
Russia's consumer-health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Tuesday that no infectious illness had been reported among staff at the Irkutsk anti-plague research facility over the previous 10 days. It said expanded testing found no microorganisms linked to the dead woman's work in her body.
The employee, named in media reports as Darya Shipilova, worked at the Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov. She was hospitalised on 29 September with severe pneumonia of unknown origin, placed on a ventilator and died on Friday.
Official and media accounts have diverged. The watchdog said an expert commission found no pathogen accident at the institute and described the illness as pneumonia of unknown aetiology. Other reports, which Russian authorities have not confirmed, said a test tube may have broken during sampling.
The neighbouring Buryatia governor, Alexei Tsydenov, wrote on Telegram that a woman in Irkutsk had died, maybe of the plague, wording that was later softened. Media reports said nearly 200 people were under medical observation.
The United States, the World Health Organization and Canada have been monitoring the case, according to secondary reports. No confirmed plague infections among contacts were reported by the watchdog on Tuesday.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Tsydenov initially wrote that a woman had died, maybe of the plague, before the wording was softened.
- Rospotrebnadzor said no work-related pathogen was found and no staff illnesses were reported in 10 days.