WHO Says Russia Reports No Plague Cases in Irkutsk After Lab Worker's Death

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that Russian health authorities have reported no recent cases of plague in Irkutsk oblast following the death of a laboratory worker who was hospitalised with severe pneumonia. No high-threat pathogens were detected among her identified contacts.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on X that the agency had followed up on the death at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute since the first media reports. The worker died on October 2. Early reports suggested pneumonic plague after an accidental laboratory exposure.

"In response to WHO's verification request under the International Health Regulations, the Russian health authorities reported that no case of plague had recently been registered in Irkutsk oblast," Tedros said.

WHAT RUSSIA TOLD THE WHO

According to the WHO, Russian authorities said they had carried out an epidemiological investigation, put preventive and control measures in place, and placed identified contacts under medical observation and tested them. They said no high-threat pathogens were found and that observation of all identified contacts was now complete.

WHAT THE WHO STILL WANTS TO KNOW

The agency said it remains in contact with Russia and has offered technical support. It has asked for further information on three points: the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.

"Timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks," Tedros said.

Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said tests on biological material from Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory assistant at the institute, found no microorganisms associated with her work. It said no accidents involving pathogenic microorganisms had been recorded at the institute. Reports citing unnamed sources close to regional security services had earlier suggested she contracted pneumonic plague after a test tube broke in the laboratory, according to Euronews.

Shipilova was hospitalised on September 29 and died on October 2, according to RFE/RL. Former colleagues told the outlet the institute has strict biosafety rules, including plague vaccination for interns. RFE/RL noted that there is no public evidence the laboratory was developing plague as a weapon or that her death was linked to a bioweapons programme.

The first official messages were mixed. A senior Russian official posted on social media that Shipilova "had died from the plague," then edited the post to add "possibly.” The regional governor, Igor Kobzev, later described the cause as pneumonia of undetermined origin. Nearly 200 people were under medical observation and at least one hospital facility was under quarantine as of Monday.

The WHO said it was aware of the reports but that no cause of death had been officially confirmed. A US State Department spokesperson said "many details have not been confirmed," and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Rospotrebnadzor was handling the investigation.

WHAT IS PLAGUE?

Plague is a bacterial disease with several forms. According to the WHO, pneumonic plague is the most contagious, can spread between people and can be fatal without early antibiotic treatment. It can occur when bubonic plague spreads to the lungs.

Russia has recorded isolated plague cases since 2014, most involving transmission from rodents during skinning, and has contained them. A 2015 case of bubonic plague in Altai's Kosh-Agach district was localised and eliminated quickly.

Laboratory-acquired plague is extremely rare. The best-known case in recent decades was a University of Chicago researcher who died in 2009 after exposure to a weakened strain of the bacterium, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported at the time as the first such case in about 50 years.

With inputs from ANI