WorldPosted at: Oct 5 2026 7:14PM


Russian authorities place hospital facility, 200 workers under quarantine after lab worker dies of 'suspected plague'

Moscow, Oct 5 (UNI) Russian authorities have placed a hospital facility under quarantine and put nearly 200 people under medical observation after a worker at an anti-plague laboratory reportedly died from pneumonia of "undetermined origin", Russian media reported.
The female employee from Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week, according to Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev. He said tests had found no micro-organisms linked to her professional activities and that no other laboratory employees had developed symptoms.
"The sanitary-epidemiological situation" in the region "is currently stable", Kobzev said.
On Friday, Maksim Modin, mayor of the Shelekhov municipal district near the Mongolian border, said that the inpatient facility where the woman had been treated was closed for quarantine.
Citing officials, Russian media reported that nearly 200 people who had been in contact with her had been placed under precautionary medical observation.
Russian media have identified the woman as a 28-year-old employee, although officials have not confirmed those details.
The reports have prompted calls for greater transparency from Moscow. A US State Department spokesperson said "Many details have not been confirmed."
"We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly," the spokesman said and added there had been "reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague" in Irkutsk oblast.
The World Health Organization said it was aware of reports that a laboratory worker had died from "severe pneumonia", but stressed that "no cause of death has been officially confirmed".
Asked whether the Kremlin was monitoring the situation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow's consumer protection agency, Rospotrebnadzor, was handling the investigation.
"It is their official statements that should be relied upon — rather than paying heed to various rumours, speculations, and the like," Peskov said.
Ashish Jha, a former White House Covid response coordinator, said "much more" information and transparency were needed from Moscow. He said that if this is an isolated case of pneumonic plague and no one else dies, "it will probably end there."
Jha said person-to-person transmission of pneumonic plague was difficult, adding "We may see a few more people get infected, but the chances that this becomes a larger outbreak, let alone a global pandemic, is exceedingly low."
He pointed that the possibility of biological weapons programmes at such facilities would be a greater concern and called for more information on that issue.
Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacterium responsible for bubonic plague and can spread through respiratory droplets, including from coughing and sneezing. Rapid treatment with antibiotics is required to reduce the risk of death.
The WHO said last week that 10 countries had reported more than 3,800 suspected human plague cases between 2019 and 2025. Six countries ultimately confirmed cases, most of them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar, with 423 deaths reported.
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