WHO sees very low risk of plague infection outside Russia
The cause of a laboratory worker’s death in Siberia has not yet been established.
The World Health Organization assesses the risk of a possible pneumonic plague infection spreading outside Russia as very low. Russian authorities report that no dangerous pathogens were found among contacts of the deceased laboratory worker.
The WHO is monitoring the situation involving a laboratory worker in Russia’s Irkutsk region who died of pneumonia last week. The worker was employed at the Irkutsk Institute for Research into Plague in Siberia and the Far East, prompting international questions about a possible infection with plague bacteria.
The WHO stresses that it has not yet been established what caused the worker’s death. Russian authorities are investigating whether pneumonic plague played a role, but according to information shared through the WHO, they have not reported a definitive diagnosis. This therefore concerns a possible incident, not a confirmed plague outbreak.
According to a Russian report, contacts were examined and medically monitored. Laboratory tests reportedly found no dangerous pathogens among those contacts. Monitoring of all contacts has been completed, according to the same report, while the epidemiological situation remains under surveillance.
The WHO describes the risk for the Irkutsk region as moderate to low, for Russia as a whole as low and for the European WHO region as very low. The European Commission says it is monitoring developments through experts from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. At the same time, the Commission stresses that reliable laboratory data and timely information are needed for cross-border health protection.
The United States is also asking Russia for more information. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington does not know whether this is an isolated case or a larger problem. The US government says it is monitoring the situation closely, but according to available reporting it has not announced any new measures.
Plague can be treated with antibiotics, but according to the WHO, the situation in Irkutsk gives no reason to assume that it is spreading outside Russia. For Dutch readers, the key point is that a possible infection, the cause of death and the risk to others still need to be assessed separately. The current information does not support a conclusion that there is an outbreak.
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The reporting clearly distinguishes between a possible infection and a confirmed outbreak. The risk assessments and the Russian test results were checked against AP and the European Commission.
- confirmed The WHO assesses the risk outside Russia as very low. — The WHO risk assessment was reported by AP. source
- confirmed The cause of death has not yet been definitively established. — AP reports that Russian authorities are still investigating whether pneumonic plague was the cause. source
- confirmed Russian authorities report that no dangerous pathogens were found among contacts. — The report was passed on to AP via the WHO. source
- confirmed The European Commission is monitoring the situation through ECDC experts. — Transcript from the European Commission. source
Editor's note
The death, the investigation and the WHO’s low risk assessment are certain. The cause of death and whether plague was involved at all remain uncertain; the Russian statements were passed on to AP via the WHO.Sources
- How Russia and the world are responding to a possible case of pneumonic plague after lab worker dies — Associated Press
- Health: Laboratory incident in Russia / Plague — Europese Commissie
More on this in Dutch media
- Het Parool — „pest rusland”
- Trouw — „pest rusland”
- NRC — „pest rusland”