Mystery Death at Russian Plague Lab Sparks Sweeping US Alert

Russian officials have quarantined a hospital and placed dozens of people under observation after a 28-year-old employee of a Siberian anti-plague institute died from pneumonia with no confirmed cause. The circumstances have raised unverified concerns that she may have had pneumonic plague.

Darya Shipilova was employed by the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Russian health authorities say extensive tests found no indication that her illness was caused by pathogens handled at the facility, though officials have not publicly disclosed the cause of death.

The sweeping precautions have intensified speculation in Russia and abroad. Reuters reported Oct. 5 that officials had identified all known contacts, placed them under medical supervision and found no additional cases among institute employees.

“We’re watching and monitoring it closely,” Rubio said Monday. He added that the situation was not, in his view, “cause for alarm,” but warranted attention and continued observation.

Rubio said reports from Russia indicated that a laboratory employee had become infected and that officials were concerned about possible transmission within the institute. Although travel between Russia and the United States is limited, he warned that an infectious disease can spread rapidly once it escapes an initial setting.

His remarks came after the State Department told Fox News on Oct. 4 that it was coordinating its monitoring efforts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies. The department said key details had not been verified and called on Moscow to release reliable information without delay.

East2West news agency reported Monday that more than 60 workers were still confined inside the Irkutsk institute and that nearly 200 people who had been in contact with Shipilova were under observation. Those numbers have not been confirmed by Russian authorities. The agency also said Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan had strengthened health screening measures at their borders.

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The infectious-disease hospital in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk, where Shipilova received treatment, was quarantined and temporarily stopped admitting or releasing patients, according to The Associated Press. Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev referred to the illness as a suspected “particularly dangerous infection.”

The response escalated further when Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer and public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, traveled to Irkutsk for an emergency meeting following Shipilova’s death, Reuters reported. A nearby aluminum plant also instructed its employees to wear masks as a precaution.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged people to follow official updates and avoid relying on “rumors or speculation.”

Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday that Shipilova had been diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology.” The agency said testing found “no microorganisms associated with the patient’s professional activities” and that investigators had uncovered no incident at the laboratory involving pathogenic organisms.

Pneumonic plague is a serious form of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It can pass between people through respiratory droplets during close contact, but prompt antibiotic treatment can be effective.

Russian officials continue to say there is no evidence of a plague outbreak and that local health conditions remain stable. Still, the cause of Shipilova’s fatal pneumonia remains unknown, as does the reason authorities adopted such extensive containment measures despite reporting that no dangerous pathogen had been found.