Russia’s health regulatory body debunked rumors on Thursday about a second person falling ill following the demise of a laboratory worker at a plague research facility in Siberia. The regulator refuted what it termed as “misleading information circulating on social media regarding a second case of illness.”
According to the regulator, thorough investigations were carried out on all individuals who had contact with the deceased woman. The results concluded that no health issues related to infectious diseases were identified, and nearly 5,000 laboratory tests showed no presence of dangerous pathogenic microorganisms.
The 28-year-old lab employee, Daria Shipilova, passed away from pneumonia of unconfirmed origin last Friday at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Shelekhov. Russian authorities swiftly implemented precautionary anti-epidemic measures in response to the incident.
Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s health watchdog, stated that the cause of Shipilova’s death was an unknown form of pneumonia and that no relevant pathogens were detected in individuals who had contact with her. Officials mentioned that she was vaccinated and thus immune to the hazardous infections present in the laboratory.
The World Health Organization initially assessed the public risk of the Russian case as low based on available information but expressed the inability to conduct a comprehensive risk evaluation due to insufficient data from Russian authorities. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered assistance to Russia and requested verification of media reports about a second employee with undetermined pneumonia.
Health Canada confirmed its monitoring of the situation, stating no current risk to Canada. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured a minimal risk from an unconfirmed pneumonic plague case in Siberia, with preparations made to monitor and screen travelers.
The CDC has a port health station at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for surveillance and screening of travelers from the affected region entering the U.S. Direct flights between Russia and the U.S. have been halted since the onset of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
