The World Health Organisation has demanded that Russia provide full and transparent information about the death of Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old Russian employee who worked at a plague-control research institute in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, amid suspicions that she had contracted plague and reports that she may have been infected at her workplace. Moscow, meanwhile, says the death was caused by pneumonia of unknown origin and denies that there is any risk of the disease spreading.
Shipilova died just two days after developing symptoms resembling those of a cold. She worked at the city’s plague-control research institute in eastern Russia, while reports suggested she may have been infected in an accident at work, a theory rejected by the Russian authorities, who denied any link between her death and the institute’s activities.
Russia attributes death to pneumonia of unknown cause
The authorities confirmed that the employee had died from «pneumonia of unknown cause» and described the health and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region as stable. The British newspaper «The Guardian» reported this position as the World Health Organisation continued to say that it lacked the information needed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the potential public health risks.
The World Health Organisation’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that the organisation still did not have a «full picture» of the incident. He said the lack of information prevented it from conducting a comprehensive risk assessment, stressing that the full, transparent and timely sharing of information was necessary to clarify conflicting reports and accurately assess any potential public health risks.
Ghebreyesus added that he had requested further clarification from the Russian government over unconfirmed media reports that a second employee had developed pneumonia of unknown cause. He said the organisation was assessing any reports it received from the local community about the incident and was awaiting a Russian response to its request for more details.
WHO unaware of source and nature of infection
Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the World Health Organisation’s Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness and Prevention, said the United Nations agency still did not know how Shipilova had initially become infected, nor did it know what viral disease had affected her. She added that if pneumonic plague were ruled out, the actual cause of death would remain unknown.
Despite denying any risk of an outbreak, Russian officials imposed strict quarantine measures on the laboratory where Shipilova worked, as well as on nearby hospitals. Institute employees were kept inside for three days while tests and analyses were completed, during which time they were forced to sleep on floors and benches.
The Baikal medical journal reported that health officials in Irkutsk had taken extensive measures to prevent any possible spread of the infection. Neighbours said workers wearing white protective suits and gas masks disinfected several times the two-storey residential building where the young employee lived, after her death last Friday.
A woman in her forties said the smell produced by the disinfection work was «unbearable and extremely pungent». She added that a woman had knocked on their door and told her that the treatment was targeting cockroaches, although the building did not have them in the first place. She said she later saw the woman putting her suit into a bag, at which point she believed the measures were linked to the rumours circulating about plague.
Svetlana, Shipilova’s 64-year-old mother, ruled out in an interview with local media the theory that her daughter had been infected after a test tube broke at work. She said the tube in question could not break even if it were thrown against a wall, and described her daughter as devoted to her work and a «pure humanitarian» who had dedicated her life to her job.
Former classmates of Shipilova also expressed doubts about the account linking the infection to her workplace. One said her reputation had been «tarnished» without a proper investigation, arguing that the theory that professional negligence had caused the incident was inconsistent with what he knew of her dedication and sense of responsibility at work.
Politically, the Kremlin sought to play down the significance of the incident and did not respond to an offer of assistance made by US President Donald Trump earlier in the week. The White House, meanwhile, continued to press Moscow for further details, while stressing that the risks the incident could pose to the United States were extremely low.
Trump said on Tuesday that he would speak «very soon» about the matter with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who turned 74 on Wednesday.
The Kremlin, however, said that no call between the two presidents had yet been arranged, while noting that a quick call could be organised between them if necessary.
