Siberia lab worker death sparks plague fears as Russia withholds details

Russian authorities have released limited information about the suspicious death of a laboratory worker in Siberia, a case that has drawn global concern amid claims that it may have involved pneumonic plague. State television and other national state-controlled media have largely avoided the story, while some state-backed outlets removed earlier reports after independent news sites gave it prominent coverage.

Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Sunday that the woman had been diagnosed with "pneumonia of unknown aetiology" and did not link the case to pneumonic plague. It said "extensive" testing found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Authorities have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring her contacts, while Moscow has told the World Health Organisation that no case of plague has been registered in the Irkutsk region.

The WHO said Russia informed it that no recent case of plague had been recorded in Irkutsk oblast, after media reports alleged that pneumonic plague caused the worker's death. The UN body said Russian health authorities had reported a full set of preventive steps, including tracing the dead woman's contacts, medical monitoring and laboratory tests. According to the Russian note shared by the WHO, the tests showed "no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts". The Geneva-based organisation said it had asked for more information on the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen behind the public health measures, and media reports about a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause. It also said it remained in contact with Russian authorities and had offered technical support.

The Kremlin has stayed guarded on the issue. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions to Rospotrebnadzor, which has not mentioned suspected plague in its reports. In its latest statement on Tuesday, the agency said, "The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm." It said authorities were completing a "complex of prophylactic measures and medical observation over contacts", and added that two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus had been found so far. "No other infectious pathogens have been found among contacts," it said. Separately, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would speak about the issue "very soon" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and report on it "probably tomorrow". Wednesday was Putin's 74th birthday. Peskov said on Wednesday that a Putin-Trump call had not yet been set up but could be organised quickly. Trump also said the US stood ready to help Russia and that the US was in "very deep discussions" on the matter.

A state television station in Irkutsk reported that the lab worker died on October 2 at a hospital in Shelekhov, just outside Irkutsk. The news outlet Lyudi Baikala, or People of Baikal, identified her as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova and said she was admitted to hospital with cold symptoms on September 29 and died three days later. It quoted colleagues as saying she was a highly qualified and diligent researcher, and stressed that safety rules at the facility, set up in the 1920s to monitor and study plague in southeastern Siberia, are extremely strict. The report also quoted neighbours as saying a disinfection team repeatedly cleaned her flat, leaving a strong antiseptic smell. Mayor Maxim Modin said the hospital where she died had been placed under quarantine and was no longer admitting or discharging patients, though its outpatient clinic was still functioning. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said she died of a "particularly dangerous infection" and that everyone who had come into contact with her remained under medical supervision.

The WHO says pneumonic plague, the most virulent form of the disease, can have an incubation period as short as 24 hours. It says the lung infection can spread between people through respiratory particles and can be fatal if untreated, though recovery rates are high if it is detected and treated in time. For now, Russian authorities maintain that no plague case has been registered in the region, even as questions remain over the cause of the worker's death and the measures taken after it.

With PTI Inputs

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