The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Russian health authorities have reported that “no case of plague” has been registered in Irkutsk Oblast, where a lab technician recently died from a mysterious illness.
The 28-year-old laboratory technician worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and died last week after being diagnosed with pneumonia of an “unknown” origin, according to Russia’s infectious disease agency, Rospotrebnadzor.
News reports suggested local hospitals had been put under quarantine measures and all of the technician’s recent contacts were being tested as part of “anti-epidemic measures”.
According to the reports, Alexei Tsydenov, the head of the nearby republic Buryatia, said the employee had died “possibly from the plague”, but added there were “no plague outbreaks” in the area.
But the WHO has said after actively following up on the reported death of the laboratory worker that Russian authorities said no case of plague had been registered.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “the individual died on 2 October 2026 after being hospitalised with severe pneumonia”. But the cause of the pneumonia remains unknown.
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Russian health authorities told WHO that an epidemiological investigation has been conducted, preventive and control measures implemented, and identified contacts placed under medical observation and tested.
Dr Ghebreyesus said in a news release: “They reported that no high-threat pathogens had been detected among the contacts and that medical observation of all identified contacts had been completed.”
That said, the health body has asked more questions, hoping to clarify the cause of the lab worker’s severe pneumonia, as well as the pathogen that prompted the public health measures.
It also said it is following up on reports of a second employee from the Anti-Plague Institute thought to have pneumonia of undetermined cause.
“Timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks,” Dr Ghebreyesus added.
Earlier this week, Chris Lewis, Director of Global Health Protection at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told HuffPost UK the health body is “seeking information through the International Health Regulations channels to further understand the circumstances and verify the accuracy” of the reports from Russia.
The US Department of Health and Human Services also told CNN it was closely monitoring the situation.
Plague is a disease usually found in small mammals and their fleas. While it’s no longer found in the UK, it does occur in several countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
The infectious disease is usually transmitted to humans from infected animals or fleas, but transmission can also happen through the spread of respiratory particles from a patient with pneumonic (respiratory) plague, where the bacteria infects the lungs.
If it’s not treated, plague can be rapidly fatal. However we do know that it can be effectively treated with antibiotics – recovery rates are high if detected and treated within 24 hours of symptoms appearing, according to WHO.
