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Russia dismissed calls for transparency over the death of a laboratory technician from plague in Siberia on Wednesday, as reports emerged of a second case of infection.
Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health watchdog, said it saw “no epidemic risk” following the death of a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, identified as Darya Shipilova, who died last week in the town of Shelekhov near Irkutsk.
The agency said Shipilova had been “vaccinated and had immunity to the dangerous infections she was working with,” and that nearly 5,000 laboratory tests had detected no dangerous pathogens.
More than 90% of those who had contact with her had completed medical monitoring, it said.
The Kremlin dismissed reports of a second suspected plague case in Siberia, telling journalists that most media reporting on the situation was “false”.
“The media are reporting a great deal right now, and the overwhelming majority of what the media are reporting around this situation is false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, urging citizens to rely solely on Rospotrebnadzor’s official statements.
Russian authorities have maintained since the start of the week that Shipilova died of pneumonia and that her cause of death remains “undetermined”.
International concern persists
US President Donald Trump had a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin scheduled for Wednesday to address the plague incident, and his administration sent Moscow a demarche requesting additional information.
“We have officially requested additional information from the Russian government. We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information,” a US State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Peskov said he had no information that the Kremlin had received any US official complaint.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday called on Moscow to clarify the situation over media reports of a second staff member with pneumonia of unclear origin.
“Timely, complete and transparent information-sharing in line with the International Health Regulations is critical,” Tedros said.
The WHO said the day before that the possible case posed a “very low” risk beyond Russia’s borders, citing the country’s reduced contact with the rest of the world due to its ongoing all-out war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions.
It noted that the institute studied “dangerous pathogens” and that plague occurs naturally among wild animals in the Irkutsk region.
Pneumonic plague, the most dangerous form of the disease, affects the lungs and can spread person to person through airborne droplets, with an incubation period as short as 24 hours.
It can be fatal without appropriate care, but the chances of recovery are high if identified and treated promptly. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing and blood-streaked sputum.
The more common bubonic plague is caused by the bite of an infected flea and can produce purulent ulcers.
If verified, the Siberia case would be Russia’s first confirmed plague infection since 2016.
Additional sources • AFP, AP