Russia Denies a Second Illness After Irkutsk Lab Worker Death

By
Harris
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20

Key Points

  • On Thursday, Russia’s health watchdog said reports of a second illness linked to a dead employee of an Irkutsk anti-plague institute are incorrect.
  • The World Health Organization said Wednesday it still cannot conduct a full risk assessment and has asked Russia for lab results and contact details.
  • Russia told WHO that no plague case was recently reported in Irkutsk oblast and that about 200 contacts had been quarantined.
  • The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a health alert on Oct. 6, and the State Department says it has formally asked Russia for more information.

Russia’s public health watchdog said Thursday that reports of a second illness connected to a laboratory worker who died in Siberia are incorrect. The World Health Organization, which pressed Moscow for answers a day earlier, says it still does not have enough information to judge the risk.

What happened

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 7, that the first media reports appeared on Friday, Oct. 2. They described a suspected case in a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute who died after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Early reports suggested pneumonic plague after a possible lab exposure. WHO has not said that diagnosis is confirmed.

Tedros said Russian authorities told WHO that no case of plague had recently been reported in Irkutsk oblast, and that about 200 contacts had been placed in quarantine. WHO then asked for the lab tests run on the person who died and on the contacts, a clearer account of why the public health measures were imposed, and the contacts’ health status. It also asked Russia to verify media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause. Those reports are not confirmed. WHO offered technical help on plague and on laboratory biosafety.

Anadolu Agency, citing Russia’s watchdog and the local outlet People of Baikal, identified the employee as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova and reported that she died Friday evening in the town of Shelekhov. CNN also used the name Shipilova. WHO and Russia’s public statements have not confirmed local reports of a laboratory accident.

Latest development

CNN, in a story updated at 7:06 a.m. CDT (8:06 a.m. ET) Thursday, reported that Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian consumer health watchdog, told the state news agency TASS that social media reports of a second illness are incorrect. The agency’s statement, as quoted by CNN, referred to “a second case of illness involving a person who had contact with an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute who was previously diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia.” Rospotrebnadzor said that information is incorrect. It did not, in the statement CNN published, release new test results on the worker who died.

A day earlier, the same agency said medical monitoring had been completed for more than 90 percent of contacts and that nearly 5,000 lab tests found no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms, CNN reported. Anadolu Agency, also citing the watchdog, quoted it as saying there are “no epidemic risks” to the population of Irkutsk and the surrounding region. That is Russia’s assessment, not WHO’s.

WHO’s position as of Wednesday’s briefing is unchanged in the public record: “As we don’t yet have the full picture of this event, we are not able to conduct a full risk assessment.” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic management, told reporters that Russian officials said no plague case was registered in the area and that no high-threat pathogens were detected among contacts. She said WHO still wants to know which tests were run and, if plague was not the cause, how the worker died. No newer WHO risk assessment was posted as of 4 p.m. ET Thursday.

Why it matters

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said on Oct. 6 that it was aware of press reports from the Irkutsk region of suspected pneumonic plague, a death, and hospital quarantines. The State Department’s Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Russia remains in place. The embassy told Americans in the area to follow local health authorities, avoid affected facilities, and get medical care promptly if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms.

A State Department spokesperson told CNN that the United States has “officially requested additional information from the Russian government” and is in official contact with other countries to share information. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that it is “incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world,” and that speculating would be reckless while the information is still limited.

President Trump said Wednesday that the United States does not think Shipilova died from exposure to a bioweapon. “We don’t think so,” he said, according to CNN. “We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.” As of Thursday afternoon ET, neither the White House nor the Kremlin had posted a readout confirming a call between Trump and President Vladimir Putin. News reports disagree, and any such call remains unconfirmed.

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said Friday that he called an emergency meeting of the regional sanitary commission after reports of a suspected highly dangerous infectious disease in a local resident, Anadolu Agency reported. That description and Rospotrebnadzor’s later statements do not answer the same question. The cause of death has not been established in public by WHO.

What happens next

WHO says it has offered technical support and is waiting on the lab details it requested under the International Health Regulations. Until those answers are public, the agency says it cannot finish a risk assessment. Readers should treat any claim of a second illness, a confirmed plague diagnosis, or a leader-to-leader call as unconfirmed unless WHO, the Kremlin, or the White House publishes it.

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Sources