The US and Europe are concerned about reports of a possible death from the plague in Russia

The US Embassy in Moscow warned its citizens about a possible outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region, calling on Americans in Russia to leave the country. US President Donald Trump previously announced that he would soon discuss with Vladimir Putin the epidemiological situation in Siberia, where, according to the official version, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died of a severe form of pneumonia. Brussels is also talking about a possible outbreak of plague in the Russian Federation.

The US Embassy said in a statement that the diplomatic mission is aware of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region, which led to the death of a person, as well as quarantine measures introduced in connection with this case and the closure of hospitals in the region.

“U.S. citizens in this region should follow the guidance of local health officials, avoid visiting affected facilities, and seek immediate medical attention if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

The diplomatic mission recalled the current recommendation of the US State Department against traveling to Russia, issued earlier due to, among other things, the increased risks of illegal detention and security threats.

Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he intends to discuss the situation in the Irkutsk region with Vladimir Putin by telephone. According to the US President, this conversation is planned for the “near future.” At the beginning of the week, Trump said that the United States was “very closely monitoring what is happening” in the Irkutsk region.

“We just found out about it and they [Russian authorities] call it pneumonia. Pneumonia used to be easier to treat, but germs and bacteria have become disproportionately stronger,” Trump said, answering questions from reporters. He also stressed that the United States is ready to provide Russia with the necessary assistance to combat the outbreak of the disease.

Europe is also monitoring a suspected outbreak of plague in Siberia. The European Commission and representatives of EU countries intend to discuss the alleged outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region at a meeting on October 7. A meeting of the Health Security Committee was scheduled for Wednesday in Brussels, and an item on the situation in Siberia was added to the program.

WHO awaiting “further information”

The death of a laboratory worker in Siberia has raised fears that the cause of her death could have been plague, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier previously told reporters. He emphasized that the woman who died from a “particularly dangerous infection” worked for an organization that studies dangerous pathogens, including the plague.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that so far WHO assesses the risk of an outbreak as moderate: “low for Irkutsk, low for the Russian Federation as a whole and very low for the WHO European Region.” At the same time, he emphasized that the assessment is based on the available incomplete information about what happened in the Irkutsk region.

According to him, the official cause of death of the laboratory employee has not yet been confirmed; laboratory research is ongoing.

In response to a WHO request, Russian authorities reported that not a single case of plague had recently been registered in the Irkutsk region, Ghebreyesus noted.

“They reported that no high-risk pathogens were identified among the contacts and that medical follow-up of all identified contacts had been completed,” the WHO chief said.

Ghebreyesus stressed that the WHO “requested additional information” about the pathogen that caused the death of the institute employee. He also noted that the organization is checking media reports about a second employee of the institute with symptoms of “pneumonia of an unknown cause.”

At the same time, the WHO emphasized that although pneumonic plague, if untreated, leads to death within 24 hours after the onset of the disease, with early diagnosis, “modern antibiotics can quickly stabilize the patient.”

The pneumonic form of plague is transmitted from person to person by airborne droplets and is even more dangerous than bubonic plague: according to WHO, if the patient does not receive antibiotics in the first 24 hours after infection, he will die with a 100% probability.

Symptoms of pneumonic plague usually appear within 24 hours, but the incubation period for bubonic and septicemic forms is usually several days.

"A particularly dangerous infection"

According to Russian authorities, a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute was hospitalized on September 29 with symptoms of severe pneumonia. On the night of October 1–2, she died in the Shelekhov hospital, where the “Covid” hospital was previously located.

Immediately after the death of the patient, the Shelekhov hospital was closed for quarantine, reported the publication “People of Baikal” (in the register of “foreign agents”). Quarantine was also introduced at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. People who had contact with the deceased patient were isolated and placed in several hospitals, media reported.

On the same day, October 2, the chief state sanitary doctor of Russia, Anna Popova, flew to Irkutsk, who, together with the head of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, held an unscheduled meeting due to a suspicion of a case of a “particularly dangerous infection” in the region.

Media and telegram channels, citing sources, wrote that on September 25, Daria Shipilova broke a test tube with the plague pathogen at work. However, the authorities have never confirmed this information at the official level. On October 4, Rospotrebnadzor stated that two commissions working at the anti-plague institute established: “No emergency situations were identified when working with pathogenic microorganisms.”

According to the official version, the deceased employee of the institute was diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown etiology. Rospotrebnadzor emphasized that “no microorganisms associated with her professional activities were identified in the material from the patient.”

“None of the contacts had any changes in their health status associated with infectious pathology,” the Russian agency said.

Some statements and actions of local authorities could also indicate the potential danger of the pathogen that caused the death of the laboratory assistant. So, last week, the administration of the city of Baikalsk in the Irkutsk region published a post on its Telegram channel calling not to travel to Shelekhov, a city where at that time a case of a “dangerous infection” was suspected. The publication “People of Baikal” drew attention to this message.

The authorities of the Shelekhovsky district previously reported that the local hospital was closed for quarantine, and soon the head of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, announced that a case of a “particularly dangerous infection” was suspected in the region.

There were reports in the media that the 28-year-old laboratory assistant allegedly returned from Thailand, others mentioned a business trip to Buryatia.

Later, the head of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov, wrote a post that “the woman who died from the plague” did not come to the region. Then he edited the post to call her “a woman who may have died from the plague.”

In recent days, authorities have consistently denied that the “dangerous infection” is the causative agent of pneumonic plague.