The World Health Organization has said it does not have the 'full picture' from Russia after the death of a lab worker in Siberia, prompting global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the UN health agency does not know what the 'causative agent' was behind the woman's death, which unconfirmed reports in Russia blamed on pneumonic plague - a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.
Questions over infection and quarantine
'We don't understand how she was infected,' Van Kerkhove said. 'We need information in a timely way. We need regular information. We need answers to the follow up of the questions that we have asked.' She added: 'We have posed these questions to our colleagues in the Russian Federation. In fairness, they have responded. We've gone back with more questions.'
The comments suggested the UN health agency has more questions than answers about the situation at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, which focuses on plague and was founded about a century ago to study the disease in Siberia, where the plague occurs naturally in wild animals. Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on information about the case, which has been surrounded by secrecy.
Russian officials' response
In its tersely worded statements, Russia's public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that the lab worker had contracted pneumonia of 'unknown' origin and that 'extensive' testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the institute. The agency said Sunday the lab worker was diagnosed with 'pneumonia of unknown etiology,' meaning its origin was not known.
Daria Shipilova, 28, died last week. A state TV station in Irkutsk reported she died Oct. 2 in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk. Officials have quarantined that hospital and were monitoring the contacts of the worker, authorities said. Russia has said the pneumonia initially presented as a 'typical' acute respiratory viral infection, the WHO has said, acknowledging that pneumonia is commonplace.
Global concerns and political reaction
While the case has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have largely steered clear of the subject. Some state-backed news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Russian authorities had indicated that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk region, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine.
President Donald Trump said he would discuss the issue during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin because Wednesday is the Kremlin leader's 74th birthday. 'They're sharing it a little bit with our people. We expect them to share it a lot with our people,' Trump said, adding that the Russians claimed to have the situation under control. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Wednesday that a Putin-Trump call hasn't been set yet but could be organized quickly.
Asked if the incident was a sign that plague might be developed as a bioweapon, Trump said, 'We don't think so. We're going to find out soon enough, but we don't think so.' When asked if the situation was similar to dealing with China on COVID-19 in his first term, Trump suggested Russia was staying relatively quiet, just as China did before the virus turned into a pandemic. 'China didn't say much and Russia is not saying much either, but they do say they have it very much under control,' he said.
Preventive measures and medical context
Russian health authorities reported a full range of preventive measures had been carried out - including tracing the dead woman's contacts, medical monitoring and lab tests, the WHO said. The Russian note relayed to The Associated Press by the WHO said the test showed 'no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts.' The Geneva-based organization cited media reports that a second employee had pneumonia of undetermined cause but it did not immediately specify the source.
Peskov referred all questions to Rospotrebnadzor, which does not mention suspected plague in its reports and has not responded to a request for comment, sent by the AP. In its latest statement Tuesday, the agency said 'the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm.' Authorities were completing a 'complex of prophylactic measures and medical observation over contacts,' it said, adding that so far they have found two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus. 'No other infectious pathogens have been found among contacts,' it said.
Pneumonic plague and the more well-known bubonic plague - also called the Black Death - are caused by the same bacteria, said Simon Clarke of the University of Reading in the U.K. Pneumonic plague results from breathing in the bacteria, causing an infection in the lungs. Bubonic plague is spread by flea bites from rodents that are carrying the bacteria. The bacterium, called Yersinia pestis, has not been eliminated, but it is not spread very easily and it is treatable with antibiotics.
