What happened at the Russian plague institute?
A researcher working at a plague research institute in Siberia, Russia, has died of pneumonia of unknown cause, fueling local debate over the possibility of pneumonic plague infection or a laboratory accident.
The incident occurred at the Siberian and Far Eastern Plague Control Research Institute in Irkutsk, Russia. Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old researcher who worked there, died of severe pneumonia on the 2nd. Russian authorities have not identified the exact cause of death and have described it as “pneumonia of unknown cause.”
After the incident, some local media outlets and social media users raised the possibility that Shipilova had been exposed to live plague bacteria at the institute or that an accident had occurred during an experiment. Russian health authorities denied any link between her death and her research work, saying tests of contacts found no dangerous pathogens, including plague.
The 14th-century Black Death: Plague still exists today
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is found in small wild mammals and fleas, among other hosts. It is estimated to have killed more than 50 million people in Europe during the 14th-century Black Death, but it can now be treated if diagnosed early and given appropriate antibiotics.
Plague takes several forms, including the most common, bubonic plague, as well as septicemic and pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague, in which the bacteria infect the lungs, can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets from an infected person, making prompt diagnosis and treatment particularly important.
About 200 contacts traced; 5,000 tests conducted
Russian authorities temporarily quarantined and monitored about 200 people who had contact with the researcher and conducted about 5,000 tests. They said no dangerous pathogens, including plague, or additional infections were found.
About 90% of those quarantined were later released from observation, but the researcher’s exact cause of death remains unknown. Further confirmation is also needed of which pathogen caused the severe pneumonia and the specific circumstances behind the disease-control measures.
WHO also requests more information from Russia
The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked Russia for more information about the circumstances of the incident, test results, why contacts were traced and their health status. Based on currently available information, it assesses the risk as moderate to low in the Irkutsk area, low for Russia as a whole and very low for the WHO European Region.
No secondary infections or signs of sustained person-to-person transmission have been reported so far. Because the exact cause of death has not been established, WHO plans to update its risk assessment as new information becomes available.
US and Europe also monitoring the situation
The US government is also monitoring the incident. President Donald Trump said he was willing to support Russia if needed, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Russia to release information more transparently.
The US State Department currently has its highest-level “Level 4: Do not travel” advisory in place for Russia and urges US citizens there to leave immediately. The advisory was not newly issued over the plague suspicions; it was already in place because of the war, wrongful detention and the threat of terrorism, among other reasons.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is also monitoring the situation in contact with WHO’s European office. It said there has been no evidence so far of secondary infections or sustained person-to-person transmission.
Could it spread like COVID-19?
With no further spread of infection detected so far, experts say it is not yet time to be seriously concerned about a global outbreak like COVID-19. Pneumonic plague generally spreads through close contact with an infected person, and effective antibiotic treatments are available.
The key distinction in this case is between the fact that a researcher who worked at a plague institute died and the suspicion that plague bacteria escaped from the institute and infected her. No additional infections have been confirmed so far, and attention is focused on whether Russia will release further information about the exact cause of death and the test results.
