Employee of plague research institute dies of pneumonic plague in Siberia; hospital quarantined

Several sources have confirmed the death of a patient at the Central District Hospital in Shelekhov, in Russia's Irkutsk Region. The outlet Lyudi Baikala, citing a source in the healthcare sector, reported that the woman had flown in from Thailand and that the cause of death was pneumonic plague.

The Telegram channel Mash, which is close to law enforcement, writes that the deceased was an employee of a plague-control institute and had recently returned from a work trip to Buryatia. A plague outbreak had previously been recorded there, on the border with Mongolia. The unit where the woman worked had only two employees. The second was examined and shows no signs of the disease.

According to Mash, everyone who had contact with the deceased was examined, and their test results were negative. The outlet Shot reports that doctors initially suspected a severe form of COVID-19, and that the plague diagnosis was established only after hospitalization.

The authorities of the Irkutsk Region are not officially disclosing the name of the infection. Governor Igor Kobzev said restrictions were introduced over a suspicion of a "particularly dangerous infection." An emergency meeting of the regional sanitary and anti-epidemic commission was held, attended by the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, who flew to the Irkutsk Region.

According to Kobzev, all identified contacts have been placed under medical observation, show no signs of the disease, and have negative laboratory test results. Several departments of the Shelekhov District Hospital are under quarantine. A citywide community cleanup day in Irkutsk, scheduled for October 3, has been canceled.

Plague is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Its main forms are bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. Humans are most often infected through the bites of infected fleas on rodents, while the pneumonic form can be transmitted from person to person through the respiratory tract. As The Moscow Times notes, no cases of human plague infection have been recorded in Russia since 2017.