Moscow: Russia’s public health watchdog on Thursday denied reports that a laboratory worker who died in Siberia had spread an infection to another person, amid international concern over a suspected case of pneumonic plague.
Rospotrebnadzor has said the lab worker at a plague research institute in Irkutsk, in southeastern Siberia, died of pneumonia of unknown origin. In tersely worded statements, the agency said “extensive” testing had found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with. It also informed the World Health Organisation that no case of plague had been registered in the Irkutsk region.
In its statement on Thursday, Rospotrebnadzor dismissed reports that a second person had fallen ill after coming into contact with the lab worker as fake. The agency provided no new information about the woman’s illness or death, nor did it explain the reasons for the extensive emergency measures introduced in the region.
On Wednesday, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the UN health agency did not know what caused the woman’s death on October 2. Unconfirmed reports in Russia had attributed the death to pneumonic plague, a severe form of plague that can spread from person to person. Van Kerkhove urged Russia to provide more information about the case.
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Her comments suggested that the UN health agency had more questions than answers about the situation at the laboratory, which specialises in plague research and was established about a century ago to study the disease in Siberia, where it occurs naturally among wild animals.
WHO said it had requested further information to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that led to the public health measures and reports in the media that a second employee had developed pneumonia of undetermined cause.
Rospotrebnadzor said on Wednesday that it had carried out the “whole range of anti-epidemic measures in connection with the professional activities of the person who fell ill”, adding that she had been “vaccinated and had immunity to dangerous infections”.
The agency also said a probe into compliance with biological safety standards at the institute had found “no emergencies in dealing with pathogens” and confirmed that all safety measures had been properly observed.
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Russian authorities have maintained tight control over information about the case, which has been shrouded in secrecy.
Russian state television and other national state-controlled media have largely avoided reporting on the subject. Some news outlets also withdrew earlier reports about the case.
