Russian Plague Lab Worker's Death Puts Siberia on Alert as US Says It Is 'Watching Closely'
Moscow says tests show no plague link, but quarantines remain at Irkutsk hospitals and the institute
3 min read
File photo: Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, under a fluorescent antibody stain at 200x magnification. Photo: CDC/Larry Stauffer, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The death of a young laboratory assistant at a plague research centre in Siberia has led to quarantines in the Russian city of Irkutsk and drawn comment from the White House, even as Russian officials insist the woman did not die of plague.
What happened in Irkutsk
The woman, who was in her late twenties according to the BBC, worked at the Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk. A state TV station in Irkutsk reported that she died last week in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside the city, the Associated Press said.
Unconfirmed reports suggested she fell ill either after breaking a test tube containing the pathogen or after a field trip to a region where plague occurs naturally among wild rodents. She had recently visited the Buryatia region on the border with Mongolia, the BBC reported.
Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said she was diagnosed with "pneumonia of unknown etiology" and that "extensive" testing found "no microorganisms associated with the patient's professional activities". It said two of her contacts tested positive for a common cold virus and two for COVID-19.
Quarantines stay in place
Despite the negative results, restrictions remain. Euronews reported that more than 60 institute employees were isolated inside the building from Friday and that several Irkutsk hospitals were placed under quarantine. Russian media reported that nearly 200 people who had contact with the woman were under medical observation as a precaution, according to the BBC.
Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev said: "The situation remains under our control and under the control of experts." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged people not to "listen to various rumours" but "rely on Rospotrebnadzor's official statements".
Washington is watching
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was monitoring the case. "If something like that gets out, it can quickly spread. So we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and the cause to just keep an eye on it and we're doing that," he said.
President Donald Trump said he had not spoken to the Kremlin about it. "I hate to see them having it," he said, adding: "We'll help. Everybody who has that kind of a problem, we'll always help."
Why pneumonic plague worries experts
Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form of the disease and is fatal without early antibiotic treatment, according to the World Health Organization. Dr Simon Clarke of the University of Reading told the BBC: "Pneumonic plague can transmit from person to person and that is why there is the concern around this."
