Nearly 200 monitored after Russian anti-plague lab worker dies

Nearly 200 people are under medical observation in Russia’s Siberian Irkutsk region after an employee of an anti-plague research institute died of an illness that authorities have not identified. Reports of a possible pneumonic plague case have prompted U.S. officials to monitor the situation.

Russia’s consumer welfare service, Rospotrebnadzor, said the employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East died of “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” or origin. The agency said the public health situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov was “stable,” according to NBC News.

Local media identified the employee as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory technician, Al Jazeera reported. Alexei Tsydenov, governor of the neighboring Buryatia region, wrote on Telegram on October 3 that a woman in Irkutsk had “died, maybe of the plague,” according to Al Jazeera. Russian authorities have not confirmed that plague caused her death.

Rospotrebnadzor expanded testing of samples from the patient and found no microorganisms associated with her professional activities, Russia’s TASS news agency reported, according to Al Jazeera.

Russian media reports cited by NBC News said nearly 200 people who had contact with the researcher were placed under precautionary medical observation. Maksim Modin, mayor of the Shelekhov municipal district, said Friday that the inpatient facility where she was treated had been closed for quarantine, NBC News reported.

“We are aware of reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia,” a U.S. State Department official told Al Jazeera. The official said the department was monitoring the situation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal partners.

“Many details have not been confirmed,” the department said. “We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.”

Pneumonic plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that also causes bubonic plague. It can pass between people through respiratory droplets, typically from coughing or sneezing. The World Health Organization says the pneumonic form is especially contagious and “can trigger severe epidemics.” Medical experts say rapid antibiotic treatment is needed to prevent deaths.

Dr. Ashish Jha, who coordinated the White House Covid-19 response from 2022 to 2023, told NBC News that more information and transparency from Moscow were needed. If this is an isolated case and no one else dies, “it will probably end there,” he said. He also said it is “actually very hard” for pneumonic plague to spread between people and that the chances of a larger outbreak, “let alone a global pandemic,” are exceedingly low.

The WHO said last week that 10 countries reported more than 3,800 suspected human plague cases from 2019 to 2025. Six countries had confirmed cases, most of them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar, with 423 deaths, according to NBC News.