Russia’s health watchdog refuted rumors on Thursday of a second individual falling ill following the death of a lab worker at a plague research facility in Siberia. The regulator dismissed what it labeled as “false information circulating on social media about a second case of illness.” According to the statement released by Russian news agencies, health authorities conducted thorough checks on all contacts of the deceased woman, confirming no health issues related to infectious diseases and no presence of dangerous pathogens in nearly 5,000 laboratory tests.
The deceased, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, passed away from pneumonia of an unspecified origin. Shipilova, an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Shelekhov, led Russian authorities to implement precautionary anti-epidemic measures. The health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, clarified that the cause of death was an unknown type of pneumonia, with no relevant pathogens detected in those who had contact with the deceased. Russian officials stated that Shipilova had been vaccinated against the infections she worked with, rendering her immune.
The World Health Organization initially assessed the public risk of the Russian case as low, yet expressed the challenge in conducting a comprehensive risk evaluation due to inadequate information provided by Russian authorities. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus extended assistance to Russia and reiterated the need to verify reports of another employee with unexplained pneumonia. Health Canada confirmed monitoring the situation with no current risk to the country, referencing the last human plague case in Canada dating back to 1939.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz emphasized the minimal risk to the U.S. from an unconfirmed pneumonic plague incident in Siberia. The CDC assured readiness to monitor and screen travelers, with a port health station at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for surveillance. Notably, direct flights between Russia and the United States have been halted since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022.