Nearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, according to a report by The Moscow Times.
The news outlet also quoted Alexei Tsydenov, head of the neighbouring republic of Buryatia, as confirming that the lab worker, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, had died from an unspecified form of plague.
Tsydenov added that Daria Shipilova had not visited Buryatia and that her infection was unrelated to the region.
“There are no plague outbreaks in the republic, including in areas bordering Mongolia,” he wrote on social media, according to The Moscow Times.
Shipilova reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing. She was hospitalised on September 29 with symptoms of severe pneumonia in Shelekhov, a town near the regional capital of Irkutsk. She was placed on a ventilator and died on October 1, according to the reports.
The Shelekhov district hospital was placed under quarantine pending an assessment by a special commission.
At least 197 people who may have had contact with Shipilova were reportedly placed under medical isolation, including more than 100 in hospital wards.
Planned public events in Irkutsk have been cancelled. The Irkutsk region Governor Igor Kobzev has urged the public to remain calm after meeting with Russia's national public health and consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor chief Anna Popova to coordinate emergency containment measures.
“All identified contact persons have been placed under medical observation. As of today, the contacts show no signs of illness, and their laboratory test results are negative,” Kobzev wrote on Telegram on October 2.
According to media reports, the suspected infection is pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs and can spread between humans through respiratory droplets.
