Infectious disease
WHO and U.S. officials seek answers about Russian lab worker’s death
The cause of the lab worker’s death remains unconfirmed, and WHO assessed the risk as low for Russia and very low for Europe.
The World Health Organization has asked Russia for more information about the death of a 28-year-old worker at a plague research institute in Irkutsk. U.S. officials have also pressed Moscow for details. The cause of her illness has not been confirmed. Russian authorities said she died of pneumonia of unknown cause and that tests found no microorganisms linked to her work.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Russian authorities had identified the worker’s contacts and none had symptoms associated with plague. WHO assessed the risk as moderate to low in Irkutsk, low for Russia overall and very low for the WHO European region. Reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause were among the issues WHO said it wanted clarified.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Russia to share more information. The State Department said it had officially requested additional information from the Russian government.
Reporting on this story
- NPR The WHO seeks more details on the death of a plague research lab employee in Russia (opens in a new tab)
- MedPage Today Russian 'Plague' Death: What We Know and Don't Know (opens in a new tab)
- The Hill Trump says he does not think suspected Russian plague cases are a bioweapon (opens in a new tab)
- Time What Worries Experts About the Russia 'Plague' Incident (opens in a new tab)
- NBC News Could the Suspected Pneumonic Plague Case in Russia Lead to an Outbreak? Experts Weigh in (opens in a new tab)
- The Guardian Plague epidemic risk in Russia low after death of lab technician, WHO says (opens in a new tab)
- Politico Rubio calls for more information from Moscow after researcher’s suspected plague death (opens in a new tab)
- CBS News Rubio calls on Russia to be more open about plague lab worker's death (opens in a new tab)
- ECDC (EU) ECDC closely monitoring situation following case of pneumonia of unknown origin in Russia (opens in a new tab)
- Medical Xpress Russian plague scare: An expert explains what we know so far-and why there's no need to panic (opens in a new tab)
