CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Russia Anti-Plague Lab Death Sparks Infection Concerns, 200 Under Watch
Moscow. Concerns over infection have grown after the death of a 28-year-old woman laboratory employee at an anti-plague research institute in Russia’s Siberia region. After the woman’s death, about 200 people have been placed under medical observation. However, Russian health officials have not yet confirmed that the death was caused by plague infection.
The deceased has been identified as Daria Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. Local reports claimed that on September 25, while work was being carried out in the laboratory, a test container containing plague bacteria broke. A few days later, her health deteriorated and she was admitted to hospital with severe pneumonia. She died during the night between October 1 and 2. However, the full cause of the sequence of events has not yet been officially confirmed.
After the incident, precautionary measures were taken at several medical institutions in the Irkutsk region, and about 200 people who had come into contact were placed under observation. According to regional authorities, those under observation have not shown symptoms of illness so far, and initial test results have come back negative.
Russia’s consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has said the epidemiological situation in the region is stable. According to the agency, additional tests on the woman’s samples did not find microorganisms linked to her profession, and no accident during work with pathogenic microorganisms at the institute has been confirmed.
Experts say that if this was indeed pneumonic plague, it can be a serious disease and can spread through respiratory particles from an infected person. However, plague is treatable if detected in time and with proper antibiotic treatment. At present, there has been no official confirmation of a widespread plague outbreak in Russia.
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