WHO still has no answers on death of lab technician in Russia's Irkutsk
Photo: The WHO has found no signs of the infection spreading (Getty Images)
The cause of the pneumonia that killed a 28-year-old employee of an anti-plague research institute in Irkutsk remains unknown. No cases of plague have been registered, and no signs of the infection spreading have been detected, according to Reuters and a statement by the World Health Organization.
The WHO received the information from Russia's sanitary regulator. Tests conducted on the lab technician herself and the people who had been in contact with her did not detect any of the dangerous pathogens they were tested for. The contacts still have no symptoms, and no new cases of severe pneumonia linked to the incident have been reported.
“Based on the information provided ... (the) WHO has not identified evidence of ongoing transmission associated with this event. A key uncertainty remains the absence of a confirmed diagnosis in the deceased laboratory worker,” the organization said in a statement.
Russian authorities insist that the woman had received all the necessary vaccinations and that no microorganisms she had worked with were found in her body. On October 8, Russia announced that it had completed screening all contacts and provided the WHO with full information.
Russian media identified the deceased as Darya Shipilova.
The laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute died on October 2. Local media reported at the time that a week before her death, she had allegedly broken a test tube containing the pathogen that causes pneumonic plague, while the head of neighboring Buryatia publicly stated that she had died of plague. Around 200 people who had been in contact with her were placed in quarantine.
The story quickly attracted international attention. The US Embassy in Moscow issued an alert for American citizens, while President Donald Trump promised Russia assistance and announced plans to discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
