Dozens Quarantined in Siberia After Plague Institute Lab Worker Dies

Kirill Zykov / Moskva News Agency

A laboratory worker testing samples.

A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia has fallen ill and died in unexplained circumstances, prompting authorities to quarantine dozens of people and the head of Russia’s health watchdog to travel to the Irkutsk region.

The death has sparked public health concerns on social media, but authorities said on Monday that the situation was under control.

Plague is endemic to parts of Siberia, where the bacterium that causes the disease, *Yersinia pestis*, is found among small wild mammals and their fleas. The region is also home to evidence of one of the earliest known prehistoric human outbreaks. Plague infections among Russians are rare, however, while cases continue to occur every year in other parts of the world, particularly Africa.

Local media identified the woman as Darya Shipilova, an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

There were conflicting reports about how and where the 28-year-old laboratory worker fell ill, but authorities said she died from pneumonia of an as-yet undetermined origin.

AUTHORITIES SAY NO NEW CASES REPORTED, ALL CONTACTS TRACED Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, told state media the institute had not found evidence of any accidents involving the handling of pathogens after rumours spread on social media that the woman had dropped a test ‌tube containing ⁠live bacteria.

Nevertheless, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, travelled to Siberia for an emergency meeting over the weekend.

An unspecified number of people who had been in contact with the woman were placed in quarantine, while parts of the hospital in the town of Shelekhov where she died were cordoned off. An aluminium plant in the area also instructed its workers to wear masks.

Authorities urged the public to remain calm, saying there was no evidence that the woman’s death was linked to her work.

Igor Kobzev, the governor of the Irkutsk region, said in a statement that she had died of "pneumonia of unknown aetiology", adding: "Importantly, over the past few days, no new ⁠cases of staff from the Anti-Plague Institute seeking medical attention have been identified."

He said the situation was under control and that all known contacts of the dead woman had been identified, examined and placed under medical supervision.

Plague ⁠comes in three forms affecting different parts of the body. Pneumonic plague, an infection of the lungs, prompts the patient to cough out infectious airborne droplets.

If identified quickly, it can be treated with antibiotics. But if left untreated, it can be fatal in one to six days.

Source: Reuters



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