MOSCOW: A laboratory employee at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute has died after reportedly contracting an unidentified infection in what was described as a laboratory accident.
The researcher worked at the Siberia and Far East institute in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Russia’s consumer health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said special measures had been introduced following the incident. The researcher was diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown etiology, meaning the exact cause of the illness had not been established.
TASS reported that additional laboratory testing of samples taken from the patient found no microorganisms linked to her professional activities.
Authorities said the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, including Irkutsk and Shelekhov, remained stable and that there was no indication of a wider public health threat.
Alexei Tsydenov, head of the neighbouring Republic of Buryatia, said the 28-year-old researcher had possibly died from plague. However, he noted that no plague outbreak had been reported in Buryatia, according to CNN.
Former Rospotrebnadzor chief Gennady Onishchenko disputed the possibility that plague was the cause, saying the infection was more likely to be something else.
Onishchenko told TASS that even if plague were ultimately confirmed, there was no reason to expect the disease to spread more widely.
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