Russia rejects calls for transparency amid reports of second plague case in Siberia
By Sergei Doubine & Russian Euronews
Published on •Updated
Russia on Wednesday rejected calls for transparency over the death of a plague laboratory technician in Siberia, amid reports of a second case of infection.
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Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health watchdog, said it sees “no epidemic risk” following the death of a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, identified as Daria Shipilova, who died last week in the town of Shelekhov, near Irkutsk.
The agency said Shipilova had been “vaccinated and was immune to the dangerous infections she worked with,” and that nearly 5,000 lab tests had failed to detect any dangerous pathogens.
More than 90% of those who had contact with her underwent medical follow-up, the press release specifies.
The Kremlin has dismissed reports of a second suspected case of plague in Siberia, telling journalists that most media reports on the situation were “false.”
“The media is reporting a lot right now, and the overwhelming majority of what they are reporting about this situation is false information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, urging citizens to rely only on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor.
Russian authorities have said since the beginning of the week that Shipilova died of pneumonia and that the cause of her death remains “undetermined”.
International concern persists
U.S. President Donald Trump had a call scheduled for Wednesday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the plague incident, and his administration sent a demarche to Moscow requesting additional information.
“We have formally 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 an official US complaint.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday called on Moscow to clarify the situation following media reports of a second staff member suffering from pneumonia of uncertain origin.
“Timely, comprehensive and transparent information sharing, in accordance with the International Health Regulations, is essential,” Tedros said.
The WHO had said the day before that the potential case posed a “very low” risk beyond Russia’s borders, citing the country’s reduced contact with the rest of the world due to the all-out war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions.
He noted that the institute was studying “dangerous pathogens” and that plague existed naturally among wild animals in the Irkutsk region.
Pneumonic plague, the most dangerous form of the disease, affects the lungs and can spread from person to person via airborne droplets, with an incubation period as short as 24 hours.
It can be fatal without proper care, but the chances of recovery are high if it is identified and treated quickly. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and sputum streaked with blood.
Bubonic plague, the most common, is caused by the bite of an infected flea and can produce festering ulcers.
If verified, the Siberian case would be the first confirmed plague infection in Russia since 2016.
Additional sources • AFP, AP
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