MOSCOW: A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances, prompting authorities to quarantine dozens of people and the head of Russia’s health watchdog to fly to the Irkutsk region.
The death has sparked public health fears on social media, but the authorities said on Monday (Oct 5) the situation was under control.
The World Health Organization said that based on available information, “the public health risk to the general population appears to be low”. New risk assessments would be conducted once further information became known, it said.
US President Donald Trump said the death was a “big problem for Russia” and offered to help Moscow deal with it.
“We’ll help,” Trump said. “Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always willing to help.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was closely monitoring the situation.
Plague is endemic to Siberia – the location of the first known prehistoric human outbreak – as the bacterium that causes it, Yersinia pestis, is present among the small wild mammals in its vast wilderness and their fleas.
However, it is rare for Russians to fall ill with plague, though cases occur every year in other parts of the world – notably Africa.
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.
Local media have named the laboratory worker who died as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.
There were conflicting reports about how and where she fell ill, but the authorities said she had died of pneumonia of as-yet unestablished origin.
