A 28-year-old laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia has died under circumstances that Russian authorities have not fully disclosed, prompting quarantine measures and international concern.
Darya Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, fell ill on September 30 and died two days later at a hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov. Russian media reports suggested she may have contracted pneumonic plague after an accident involving a broken test tube, though this has not been officially confirmed.
Russian authorities have not attributed her death to plague. The Irkutsk regional governor, Igor Kobzev, said she died of "pneumonia of unknown aetiology," adding that no new cases of staff from the institute seeking medical attention had been identified in the days following her death.
Strict quarantine measures have been imposed at the research centre and in several neighbouring hospitals. According to Russian media, around 60 of Shipilova's colleagues have been confined inside the institute since Friday, sleeping on floors and chairs while tests are carried out. Relatives have been forbidden from visiting patients in the affected hospitals. Separately, an aluminium plant near the institute instructed its workers to wear masks.
About 200 people who came into contact with Shipilova have been placed under quarantine. Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's public health watchdog, said officials detected two cases of COVID and two cases of rhinoviruses among those contacts. No other infectious disease cases were reported.
Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk to meet with Governor Kobzev and other officials. The watchdog said the situation in the region was stable, with no new infectious disease cases reported among institute employees.
The Kremlin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, urged the public not to listen to rumours and to rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor.
The World Health Organization assessed the health risk as "moderate to low" for Irkutsk, "low" for the rest of Russia, and "very low" for Europe. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said on Tuesday there was no sign of a wider outbreak. "All of the patients' contacts have reportedly been identified and are being monitored for illness, and none to date have shown symptoms of illness," he said.
The UK Health Security Agency also assessed the risk to the United Kingdom as very low.
Russian investigators were still examining whether viral pneumonic plague caused Shipilova's death. Later on Monday, Russian authorities said they had found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with.
The case drew attention from Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Moscow to release more information. "I think it's incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world," he said. "We're watching it very closely, hour by hour."
President Donald Trump said his administration was willing to offer assistance. "I hate to see them having it. We'll help. Everybody who has that kind of a problem, we'll always help," he told reporters at the White House.
In an apparent response, Rospotrebnadzor announced that Russia was prepared to assist the United States in combating its own infectious disease outbreaks. The watchdog highlighted what it described as a "significantly worsened" measles situation in three US states and a "fatal case of plague" recorded in New Mexico in June.
Pneumonic plague is a severe form of the infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Unlike the more common bubonic plague, it affects the lungs and can spread from person to person. Plague is endemic in parts of Siberia, though human cases there are rare.
