Russia’s health regulator dismissed claims on Thursday that a second person had fallen ill after the death of a worker at a plague research facility in Siberia. The regulator refuted what it called “misinformation circulating on social media regarding a second illness.” It confirmed that all contacts of the deceased woman had been checked, revealing no health issues related to infectious diseases, with nearly 5,000 laboratory tests showing no dangerous pathogens.
The 28-year-old worker, Daria Shipilova, passed away from pneumonia of unknown origin at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Russian authorities swiftly implemented precautionary anti-epidemic measures following her death. The World Health Organization initially assessed the public risk as low but requested more information from Russian authorities to provide a comprehensive risk assessment.
Health Canada and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the situation but see minimal risk to their respective countries. The CDC has mentioned that the risk from an unconfirmed pneumonic plague case in Siberia is very low. Health and Human Services in the U.S. have not yet confirmed if they plan to set up screening for travellers from the region at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.