WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on October 7 in Geneva that the organization had requested additional data from Russia on the situation in the Irkutsk region after the death of an employee of the Irkutsk Scientific Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. He recalled that the first media reports of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in a laboratory employee appeared on October 2, 2026.
According to the WHO chief, the laboratory employee died after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. The first media reports claimed that it could have been pneumonic plague after accidental infection in the laboratory, and on October 2 the Russian government held a meeting in connection with suspicions of infection of an Irkutsk region resident with a dangerous infection.
WHO said that Russia responded: no plague cases had been recorded in the Irkutsk region recently, and about 200 contacts were placed in quarantine. The organization also requested data on laboratory tests of the deceased person and contacts, more detailed information on the reasons for public health measures in the region, and information on the health condition of these people.
WHO confirmed that it had requested confirmation of reports about a second employee with pneumonia of unknown etiology and offered technical support on issues related to plague, biosafety, and laboratory security. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that without a full picture of what happened, the organization cannot conduct a proper risk assessment.
The WHO chief added that timely, complete, and transparent information exchange under the International Health Regulations is crucial for clarifying conflicting reports and accurately assessing the risk to public health. According to the source, on October 4 Rospotrebnadzor reported that the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, and Shelekhov was stable and no plague cases had been detected, on October 5 the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan commented on the situation in the Irkutsk region, and on October 7 — the Kremlin and Rospotrebnadzor.
The source also states that on October 2 it became known about the death in Shelekhov of a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East, after which information appeared about a possible case of plague. Later, the cause of death was described as pneumonia of unknown etiology.
Sources
