A 28-year-old technician, Darya Shipilova, has died after being hospitalised with severe pneumonia following work at Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute near Shelekhov, Siberia.
Reports said a test tube containing live bacteria broke while samples were being handled in late September. Some accounts identified the bacterium as Yersinia pestis, which causes plague. Russian health authorities, however, described the illness as pneumonia of unknown cause and denied a confirmed accident involving a disease-causing bacterium.
Around 197 to 200 people were placed under medical observation, according to the supplied reports. Quarantine measures were reported at some hospitals, while contact tests were said to be negative and no symptoms were reported among those contacts.
Why the incident is drawing attention
Pneumonic plague is a serious form of plague that can spread through respiratory droplets. The reports also said that plague treatment is available, but they did not confirm that Shipilova had the disease.
The head of a neighbouring republic said the death may have been caused by plague, while regional and federal health officials said the situation was stable. Rospotrebnadzor also said samples from the patient did not contain microorganisms linked to her occupation.
Some Russian Telegram channels and international reports have compared the incident with Wuhan because of the reported laboratory accident, quarantine measures and uncertainty over the illness. The supplied material does not report a confirmed outbreak or large-scale spread in Siberia.
Officials appealed for calm. The reports said there was no international health emergency declaration and that the situation was being described as controlled, although the investigation and differing public statements have fuelled concern.
