WHO says it still lacks key information on suspected Siberian plague case

The World Health Organization is seeking more information from Russia about the death of a laboratory worker in Siberia after reports raised concern about a possible case of pneumonic plague. A senior WHO official said Wednesday that the agency did not know how the worker had died or what caused her illness. The request follows the death of an employee at a Siberian institute that works with dangerous pathogens, prompting wider concern about whether the case involved plague.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic management, said the agency did not know the “causative agent” behind the death. She also said it did not understand how the woman had been infected and needed Russia to provide information in a timely and regular way. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Moscow to clarify media reports that a second employee at the Irkutsk institute had pneumonia of undetermined cause.

Tedros said the WHO had received information from two media outlets, one of them Russian, and had asked Russia to respond. Russia has described the first illness as pneumonia of unknown or undetermined origin. The supplied reports do not establish that the worker had plague, nor do they confirm that a second employee was infected.

The central uncertainty remains the cause of the first death and the status of the reported second case. The WHO’s appeal is focused on information-sharing rather than a confirmed international outbreak. Tedros said complete and transparent information in line with the International Health Regulations was important.

The agency has not said that the incident constitutes a wider emergency. The reported case has nevertheless drawn attention because the institute studies dangerous pathogens and because plague occurs naturally among wild animals in the Irkutsk region. Pneumonic plague affects the lungs and can spread between people through airborne droplets.

It can be fatal without appropriate care, although the chances of recovery are high when it is diagnosed and treated promptly. The WHO has assessed the risk beyond Russia’s borders as very low, according to the supplied reporting. The reports attribute that assessment partly to Russia’s reduced contact with the rest of the world during its war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed since the conflict began.

Russia’s response to the WHO inquiry was not included in the France 24 and Associated Press material supplied here. The available reports therefore leave unresolved both the laboratory worker’s diagnosis and the reports of a second case. Further testing and official clarification would be needed to determine whether plague was involved.