Russia Plague Scare: Moscow Denies Special Restrictions, Says Situation In Irkutsk 'Stable'

Russian authorities on Tuesday denied imposing special restrictions following reports that a laboratory technician had died of plague, while the US said it was closely monitoring the situation.

Reports on Friday that 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, who worked at an anti-plague institute in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, had died of pneumonic plague triggered concern.

Russia calls circulating document ‘fake’

Russia’s consumer and health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said a document circulating online claiming that heightened sanitary and epidemiological measures and restrictions had been imposed in the Irkutsk region was fake, AFP reports.

"We wish to clarify that the document and information in question do not originate from official sources and are untrue," the watchdog said on Telegram.

"No such decisions have been made at this time," it said, adding that "the sanitary-epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk Region ... remains stable".

Russian news outlet People of Baikal, citing unnamed sources close to regional security services, reported on Friday that Shipilova may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube.

Other media reports suggested a possible connection between her death and a laboratory accident at the facility.

People of Baikal also reported that as many as 200 people who may have come into contact with her were under quarantine, without providing further details.

Postmortem tests did not detect disease

Russian officials, however, have said postmortem tests did not detect the disease.

Irkutsk Regional Governor Igor Kobzev said on Monday that an inspection by a special Rospotrebnadzor expert commission had found that "the cause of death was pneumonia of undetermined aetiology".

According to Kobzev, the health watchdog determined that "no microorganisms linked to the young woman's professional work were found in her biological samples".

There had also been "no new cases of staff from the anti-plague institute seeking medical attention" since Shipilova’s death, he said.

What is pneumonic plague?

Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms. Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form and can spread through respiratory transmission, while bubonic plague is transmitted by infected fleas.

According to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague can cause lung failure and may be fatal if it is not treated early.

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US monitoring developments

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration was closely monitoring the situation.

"We're looking at it very strongly," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked what Washington planned to do about the potential risk of plague coming from Russia.

"We'll help them as much as we can."