Russia has been accused of orchestrating a "cover up" concerning a suspected leak of pneumonic plague from a laboratory in Irkutsk. Although the plague speculation is yet to be confirmed, the fears of an outbreak come a year after one nation declared promising outcomes for a potential vaccine - although it remains untested on humans and is not yet available for public use.
Hospital quarantined after lab worker's death
Russian officials have placed a hospital under quarantine and are tracking contacts of a worker at a plague research facility in Siberia who developed pneumonia from an "unknown" source. Regional state television reported the woman passed away last week.
Russian authorities stated they discovered no evidence linking her illness to any of the pathogens in her workplace. However, the incident has sparked concern across Russia following unverified media reports suggesting she may have succumbed to pneumonic plague - a rarer but serious variant of plague that can transmit between individuals.
No approved vaccine, but Israeli scientists claim 100% effectiveness
There is currently no widely available or FDA-approved vaccine for pneumonic plague. Also health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) do not recommend general public vaccination over the virus.
According to WHO: "Untreated pneumonic plague can be rapidly fatal, so early diagnosis and treatment are essential for survival and reduction of complications. Antibiotics and supportive therapy are effective against plague if patients are diagnosed in time."
Pneumonic plague can be fatal within 18 to 24 hours of disease onset if left untreated, but common antibiotics for enterobacteria (gram negative rods) can effectively cure the disease if they are delivered early.
However, in 2025, Israeli scientists developed a new vaccine that they claim is "100% effective" against the pneumonic plague, reports the Express US.
Tel Aviv University collaborated with the Israel Institute for Biological Research to create an mRNA-based jab, the first mRNA vaccine designed to protect against a bacterial infection.
"In the study, we show that our mRNA vaccine provides 100% protection against pneumonic plague (a severe lung infection), which is considered the most dangerous form of the disease," study co-lead Professor Dan Peer, director of the Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University, told Fox News Digital.
"Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is considered a highly lethal infectious bacterium, against which no approved vaccine exists," added Peer. A university press release stated the team tested the new mRNA vaccine in animals that had been infected with the bacteria.
Victim named and contacts monitored
The woman who passed away in Russia has been named as Darya Shipilova, 28. She was employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, southeastern Siberia. A state TV station in Irkutsk reported on Monday that she died last week in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk.
The hospital has been placed under quarantine, Mayor Maxim Modin announced on Friday, no longer admitting or discharging patients, and its laboratory ceased conducting routine tests. The hospital's outpatient clinic continued operating as usual, he said.
Anna Popova, chief of Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, travelled to Irkutsk and held talks with Gov. Igor Kobzev and other officials on Friday. Kobzev revealed that all individuals who had contact with the woman are now under medical observation.
He refused to name the infection and described it as a suspected case of "a particularly dangerous infection."
Rospotrebnadzor was putting in place "a full range of anti-epidemic measures," he stated. On Sunday, Rospotrebnadzor announced the woman had been diagnosed with "pneumonia of unknown etiology," or origin, and reported that "extensive" testing revealed "no microorganisms associated with the patient's professional activities."
The agency also maintained it had not discovered any incidents at the institute "involving pathogenic microorganisms."
According to Russian news agency TASS, The World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed the public health risk associated with the detection of a case of pneumonia of unknown etiology as low.
They claim WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said: "Based on available unofficial information, the public health risk appears low." Lindmeier went on to say that those currently being monited in qaunrentine "none of them are showing symptoms of the disease."
Independent local news source Lyudi Baikala cited unnamed sources claiming the lab technician perished from pneumonic plague and that multiple Irkutsk hospitals had been placed under quarantine.
When asked on Monday to address the case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the public and media to rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor, rather than "rumours or speculation."
The Irkutsk Aluminium Plant in Shelekhov has mandated that staff wear masks as a precautionary measure, its director Artyom Fominykh announced on Telegram this Saturday, urging for calm and adding: "Better be safe than sorry."
The World Health Organisation characterises pneumonic plague as a less frequent but severe form of plague — an illness caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium typically found in small mammals and their fleas.
