The death of an employee at a plague laboratory in Russia prompted authorities to quarantine at least one hospital facility and nearly 200 people are believed to be under medical observation since Monday.
An employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week of “pneumonia of undetermined origin,” according to regional governor Igor Kobsev.
He specified that no “micro-organisms linked to the employee’s professional activities were detected” in her body and that there were “no new cases” of illness among other laboratory employees.
“The health and epidemiological situation” in the region “is currently stable,” Kobsev said.
On Friday, Maksim Modin, mayor of the Shelekhov municipal district near the border with Mongolia, said the hospital care facility where the worker was reportedly treated had been closed for quarantine. Russian media quoted officials as saying that nearly 200 people who had contact with the woman had been placed under precautionary medical observation.
Russian media identified the woman as 28 years old. These details have not been confirmed by officials.
At the same time, there have been calls internationally for more information and greater transparency from Moscow.
“Many details have not been confirmed,” a State Department spokesperson said. “We encourage Russian authorities to quickly and openly share accurate information. » The spokesperson said there had been “reports of a suspected fatal case of pneumonic plague” in the Irkutsk region.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that while travel between the United States and Russia is “very limited,” if “something like this comes to light, it could quickly spread.” The U.S. government is “closely monitoring and monitoring the situation,” he added. “I don’t think it’s a reason to be alarmed, but it’s a reason to focus and keep an eye on it.”
The World Health Organization said in a statement that it was aware of reports that a laboratory worker had died of “severe pneumonia” but that “no cause of death has been officially confirmed.”
Asked by NBC News in Moscow whether the Kremlin was monitoring the events, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer protection service, was leading the investigation.
“One should trust their official statements, rather than paying attention to various rumors, speculations, etc. “, he said. “Rospotrebnadzor employs highly qualified professionals in this area, so let’s take their official statements into account.”
Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House Covid response coordinator, told NBC News that “a lot more” information and transparency was needed from Moscow. He said that if this is an isolated case of pneumonic plague and no one else dies, “it will probably stop there.”
But “it’s actually very difficult” for pneumonic plague to spread from person to person, Jha said. “We may see a few more people get infected, but the chances of this turning into a larger outbreak, let alone a global pandemic, are extremely low,” he said.
“If there were weapons programs, biological weapons programs in these labs, that would concern me a lot more,” he said. “We need to figure this out now.”
Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria as bubonic plague and can spread from person to person through airborne respiratory droplets, usually through sneezing or coughing. Medical experts say cases require rapid treatment with powerful antibiotics to prevent deaths.
From 2019 to 2025, 10 countries reported more than 3,800 suspected cases of human plague to the WHO, the agency said last week. Six countries ended up having confirmed cases, most in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, with 423 deaths.
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